Imagine jumping into a swimming pool. It’s cold, isn’t it? However, after a few minutes you will get used to the temperature. Or how about walking into a room filled with cigarette smoke? It does have a smell, but if you leave it for a while, it will go away.
This is a habit. It is the brain’s ability to stop paying attention to certain things. It doesn’t just apply to sensory perception. This is also why new clothes and new homes lose their luster over time. And that doesn’t just apply to good things. It can explain why people stay in bad relationships, why we don’t frown at the fact that most CEOs are men, and why we don’t notice the smog that engulfs our cities.
Habituation is a fundamental neurological process essential to our evolution, allowing us to quickly adapt to our environment and prepare for new, potentially beneficial or potentially threatening dangers. Helpful. But there are benefits to seeing things we’re used to seeing in a fresh light. Tali Shallot and Cass R. Sunstein put it in their book Look Again: The ability to notice what was always there – “Dehabitation”.
said Shallot, professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London. new scientist Why learning how to break habits can improve our happiness, raise awareness against misinformation, and even help fight climate change.
Alison Flood: Why did we evolve habit-forming brains?
Tali Shalot: The brain cares more about what’s new than what’s new…
Source: www.newscientist.com
