The Efficient Brain

The Efficient Brain

• There are a host of responses of the body and brain that happen without conscious thought
  • These are autonomic responses
    • If your hand gets near an intense heat source, you automatically move it. You don’t have to think about it first

• This is an efficient way of operating because it helps the brain use less energy. (It is already a huge energy hog.)
• There are even more things that can become almost autonomous, with sufficient practice
  • After 2-3 years, we can drive cars without much conscious thought.
  • Similarly, it takes 2-3 years before we can reliably recognize errors in computer coding

• This isn’t just an information processing issue
  • It is a matter of experience, training and judgment
  • This is why we need to bring back Master-Apprentice programs
    • They permit repeated practice and, most importantly, they create a reasonably safe environment in which to experiment and fail
    • This is critical because we learn more from failure than from success