How is it that we can sometimes zone out and seem to go on “autopilot” while driving without crashing?
In: Biology
It could also be that you are not on “autopilot” from second to second but it feels like you had much less awareness of your surroundings than you did because no meaningful or non-ordinary events occurred so you didn’t create unique MEMORIES from the trip. Basically, hey everything’s fine most of this is normal why waste energy remembering a mundane drive when we can just dump it in a file with all the other “samey” drives to this locale.
Unique situations or problems you have to overcome build memories easier. Every decent vacation story/memory will describe problems lost luggage at the start, or failed reservation, jet lag(if it’s unusual for you), even hunting a gas station with friends.
We’re actually on autopilot most of the time. Our brains filter out so much information on a moment-by-moment basis, it’s actually kind of unbelievable. You’re now breathing manually. It takes fairly little energy to respond to visual stimuli, and our bodies are so used to the act of driving that it becomes an effortless thing, almost an extension of our own bodies in a sense. You can now feel your toes. Once you get super familiar with something, you can zone out and let your body do most of the heavy lifting so to speak.
Don’t worry. If anything out of the norm happens, your brain will kick you right back into gear and you’ll focus back up. It’s just our way of conserving energy and brain power.
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