How fast you think

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You first retrieved from memory the cognitive program for multiplication that you learned in school, then you implemented it. Carrying out the computation was a strain. You felt the burden of holding much material in memory, as you needed to keep track of where you were and of where you were going, while holding on to the intermediate result.

The process was mental work: deliberate, effortful, and orderly—a prototype of slow thinking. The computation was not only an event in your mind; your body was also involved. Your muscles tensed up, your blood pressure rose, and your heart rate increased.

Someone looking closely at your eyes while you tackled this problem would have seen your pupils dilate. Your pupils contracted back to normal size as soon as you ended your work—when you found the answer which is , by the way or when you gave up. Psychologists have been intensely interested for several decades in the two modes of thinking evoked by the picture of the angry woman and by the multiplication problem, and have offered many labels for them.

I adopt terms originally proposed by the psychologists Keith Stanovich and Richard West, and will refer to two systems in the mind, System 1 and System 2. The operations of System 2 are often associated with the subjective experience of agency, choice, and concentration. The labels of System 1 and System 2 are widely used in psychology, but I go further than most in this book, which you can read as a psychodrama with two characters.

When we think of ourselves, we identify with System 2, the conscious, reasoning self that has beliefs, makes choices, and decides what to think about and what to do. Although System 2 believes itself to be where the action is, the automatic System 1 is the hero of the book. I describe System 1 as effortlessly originating impressions and feelings that are the main sources of the explicit beliefs and deliberate choices of System 2.

The automatic operations of System 1 generate surprisingly complex patterns of ideas, but only the slower System 2 can construct thoughts in an orderly series of steps. I also describe circumstances in which System 2 takes over, overruling the freewheeling impulses and associations of System 1. You will be invited to think of the two systems as agents with their individual abilities, limitations, and functions. In rough order of complexity, here are some examples of the automatic activities that are attributed to System All these mental events belong with the angry woman—they occur automatically and require little or no effort.

The capabilities of System 1 include innate skills that we share with other animals. We are born prepared to perceive the world around us, recognize objects, orient attention, avoid losses, and fear spiders. Other mental activities become fast and automatic through prolonged practice. System 1 has learned associations between ideas the capital of France? Some skills, such as finding strong chess moves, are acquired only by specialized experts.

Others are widely shared. Detecting the similarity of a personality sketch to an occupational stereotype requires broad knowledge of the language and the culture, which most of us possess.

The knowledge is stored in memory and accessed with- out intention and without effort. Several of the mental actions in the list are completely involuntary. Other activities, such as chewing, are susceptible to voluntary control but normally run on automatic pilot.

The control of attention is shared by the two systems. Orienting to a loud sound is normally an involuntary operation of System 1, which immediately mobilizes the voluntary attention of System 2.

You may be able to resist turning toward the source of a loud and offensive comment at a crowded party, but even if your head does not move, your attention is initially directed to it, at least for a while. However, attention can be moved away from an unwanted focus, primarily by focusing intently on another target. The highly diverse operations of System 2 have one feature in common: they require attention and are disrupted when attention is drawn away.

Here are some examples:. In all these situations you must pay attention, and you will perform less well, or not at all, if you are not ready or if your attention is directed inappropriately. System 2 has some ability to change the way System 1 works, by programming the normally automatic functions of attention and memory.

When waiting for a relative at a busy train station, for example, you can set yourself at will to look for a white-haired woman or a bearded man, and thereby increase the likelihood of detecting your relative from a distance. You can set your memory to search for capital cities that start with N or for French existentialist novels.

It is the mark of effortful activities that they interfere with each other, which is why it is difficult or impossible to conduct several at once. You can do several things at once, but only if they are easy and undemanding.

You are probably safe carrying on a conversation with a passenger while driving on an empty highway, and many parents have discovered, perhaps with some guilt, that they can read a story to a child while thinking of something else. Everyone has some awareness of the limited capacity of attention, and our social behavior makes allowances for these limitations. When the driver of a car is overtaking a truck on a narrow road, for example, adult passengers quite sensibly stop talking.

They know that distracting the driver is not a good idea, and they also suspect that he is temporarily deaf and will not hear what they say. Intense focusing on a task can make people effectively blind, even to stimuli that normally attract attention. They constructed a short film of two teams passing basketballs, one team wearing white shirts, the other wearing black. The viewers of the film are instructed to count the number of passes made by the white team, ignoring the black players.

This task is difficult and completely absorbing. Halfway through the video, a woman wearing a gorilla suit appears, crosses the court, thumps her chest, and moves on. The gorilla is in view for 9 seconds. Many thousands of people have seen the video, and about half of them do not notice anything unusual.

It is the counting task—and especially the instruction to ignore one of the teams—that causes the blindness. No one who watches the video without that task would miss the gorilla.

Seeing and orienting are automatic functions of System 1, but they depend on the allocation of some attention to the relevant stimulus. The authors note that the most remarkable observation of their study is that people find its results very surprising. Indeed, the viewers who fail to see the gorilla are initially sure that it was not there—they cannot imagine missing such a striking event. The gorilla study illustrates two important facts about our minds: we can be blind to the obvious, and we are also blind to our blindness.

The interaction of the two systems is a recurrent theme of the book, and a brief synopsis of the plot is in order. In the story I will tell, Systems 1 and 2 are both active whenever we are awake. The more senses you use, the more parts of your brain will recall the information you'd like to recover quickly. Associate colors, scents, or physical sensations with words or ideas. Prioritize the tasks you give your brain.

Use a calendar to keep track of events so you aren't committing precious brain space to information that is easily recorded for later reference. For example, you can write down any appointments that you have, bill due dates, or to-do list items.

Repeat the information you really want to know. Reciting information out loud or writing it down will reinforce the neural pathways that form memory. For example, you might want to recite the date of an important presentation or recite the names of your new classmates. Method 4. Exercise regularly. Research shows regular exercise increases the number of tiny blood vessels that carry oxygen to your brain. Exercise also lowers blood pressure and helps you manage stress.

The combination of exercise and an alteration in your physical environment will help refocus your brain and stimulate faster thinking.

Eat a healthy diet. Your brain requires a lot of energy to function properly, so it's important to eat food that will stimulate clear thinking. Reduce your consumption of saturated fats and unhealthy cholesterol from animal sources or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.

Maintain good emotional health. People who are anxious or depressed tend to score lower on cognitive tests. Talk to a friend, seek counseling, or consult your doctor if you believe you are suffering from excessive anxiety or depression. Get enough sleep. Sleep deprivation and exhaustion also tend to cause low results on cognitive tests. Young adults and adults need seven to nine hours of sleep to maintain healthy function. Your brain will not fire quickly if it's tired.

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube. Indulging in something that interests you or is meaningful to you will help you retain it better.

Taking up a new class is a good start. Helpful 4 Not Helpful 0. Helpful 3 Not Helpful 0. If you have a smartphone, there are apps that are made specifically to work out your brain. Reading books may also help as they give you a more lively imagination and creativity. Helpful 4 Not Helpful 1. Avoid overworking or stressing your brain. It's okay to take a break now and then. Helpful 4 Not Helpful 2.

Related wikiHows How to. How to. More References 6. About This Article. Co-authored by:. Co-authors: Updated: July 12, Categories: Thinking Skills. Article Summary X To think fast on the spot, start by taking a couple of deep breaths to relax your mind so it's easier to respond to the situation. Italiano: Pensare Velocemente. Deutsch: Schnell denken. Bahasa Indonesia: Berpikir Cepat. Nederlands: Snel denken.

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read , times. The more you tap your emotions, the more you become a good thinker. More reader stories Hide reader stories. Did this article help you? Cookies make wikiHow better. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy.