Scientific Definition
Brain system that decides what's important right now.
Plain-English Definition
Brain system that decides what's important right now.
Feynman Explanation
Attention is a vote your salience network casts.
Core Principle
Brain system that decides what's important right now.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Brain system that decides what's important right now.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Attention is a vote your salience network casts.
Examples
- Why bright UI elements grab focus disproportionately.
- Dashboard and notification design.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Design salience deliberately, not by default.
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Design salience deliberately, not by default.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
Attention is the most contested resource in modern work.
Task switches leave cognitive residue that degrades performance.
Multitasking measurably degrades performance.
Two modes the brain alternates between.
Short focused intervals + breaks outperform marathon sessions.
Brain network active during rest and mind-wandering — and during creative insight.
Naming an emotion reduces its intensity.
Cumulative physiological wear from chronic stress.
Emotional override of rational processing.
Brain region tracking conflict, error, and effort.
We treat AI as more humanlike than it is.
Self-direction is one of the deepest motivational levers.