When things are less routine we have to shift our attention to the details of what we’re doing, taking our minds off the bigger picture for a moment. If you’re a skilled driver then you manage the gears, indicators and wheel automatically, and your attention is probably caught up in the less routine business of navigating the traffic or talking to your passengers. When things are going well, often in familiar situations, we keep our attention on what we want and how we do it seems to take care of itself. The third builder might have the most inspiring view of their day-job, but nobody can build a cathedral without figuring out how to successfully put one brick on top of another like the first builder.Īs we move through our days our attention shifts between these levels – from our goals and ambitions, to plans and strategies, and to the lowest levels, our concrete actions. Maybe you heard that story as encouragement to think of the big picture, but to the psychologist in you the important moral is that any action has to be thought of at multiple levels if you are going to carry it out successfully. But the third builder swells with pride when asked, and replies: “I’m building a cathedral!” “I’m building a wall,” is the simple reply. “What are you doing today?” she asks the second. “I’m putting brick after sodding brick on top of another,” sighs the first. “What are you doing today?” she asks the first. These features of our minds are perhaps best illustrated by a story about a woman who meets three builders on their lunch break.
Understanding this might help us appreciate those temporary moments of forgetfulness as more than just an annoyance (although they will still be annoying). It’s known as the “Doorway Effect”, and it reveals some important features of how our minds are organised. Or wait for a moment to interrupt a friend to find that the burning issue that made us want to interrupt has now vanished from our minds just as we come to speak: “What did I want to say again?” we ask a confused audience, who all think “how should we know?!”Īlthough these errors can be embarrassing, they are also common. Open the fridge door and reach for the middle shelf only to realise that we can’t remember why we opened the fridge in the first place. Run upstairs to get your keys, but forget that it is them you’re looking for once you get to the bedroom. Forgetting why you entered a room is called the “Doorway Effect”, and it may reveal as much about the strengths of human memory, as it does the weaknesses, says psychologist Tom Stafford.
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