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States of attention – The daily blog of behavioral and cognitive economics

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States of attention – The daily blog of behavioral and cognitive economics

The Fast Brain, Energy Economy, and the Risk of Automatism

Why deep thinking requires energy — and why the brain prefers shortcuts. The human brain is an extraordinary organ. It enables language, science, art, memory, imagination, and consciousness. But it also has a fundamental characteristic that strongly shapes human behavior: it constantly tries to save energy. Although the brain represents roughly 2% of body weight, it consumes about 20% of the body’s metabolic energy. Deep thinking, complex reasoning, and revising beliefs require significant metabolic resources. Because of this, evolution favored a highly efficient strategy: think fast whenever possible. ….[READ]

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