September 5, 2021 • 4 mins
Mindfulness-based interventions have become very popular and do have merit.
But now psychological research has also revealed that in some circumstances it’s important to be mindless.
There are some things that we learn to do with a state of “automaticity” like riding a bike to brushing your teeth. When you have done it enough times you don't think about every move, you just do it.
New research shows that paying too much attention to what you’re doing can have damaging effects, particularly when you perform well-practiced skills.
In the study researchers asked skilled golfers to sink putts.
In one scenario, the golfers were simply instructed to pay attention to the swing of their club and say “stop” when they finished their swing.
In another condition, they were instructed to listen for a target sound while ignoring other noises and say the word “tone” when they heard the target sound.
The skilled golfers performed substantially worse when they focused on their swing than when they paid attention to irrelevant sounds.
The conclusion - focusing too carefully on the execution of well-practiced motor sequences can cause mistakes, instead if you know something well, just turn your brain off and be mindless for a while.
LISTEN ABOVE
But now psychological research has also revealed that in some circumstances it’s important to be mindless.
There are some things that we learn to do with a state of “automaticity” like riding a bike to brushing your teeth. When you have done it enough times you don't think about every move, you just do it.
New research shows that paying too much attention to what you’re doing can have damaging effects, particularly when you perform well-practiced skills.
In the study researchers asked skilled golfers to sink putts.
In one scenario, the golfers were simply instructed to pay attention to the swing of their club and say “stop” when they finished their swing.
In another condition, they were instructed to listen for a target sound while ignoring other noises and say the word “tone” when they heard the target sound.
The skilled golfers performed substantially worse when they focused on their swing than when they paid attention to irrelevant sounds.
The conclusion - focusing too carefully on the execution of well-practiced motor sequences can cause mistakes, instead if you know something well, just turn your brain off and be mindless for a while.
LISTEN ABOVE
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