The Role of Automatic Attention in Attention

There are in fact two distinct types of attention that we use as we move through our days. The first is controlled attention, like when you're on deadline to create an important presentation. But there's a second sneakier type of attention and it's called reflexive attention. It's constantly keeping an eye out for threats and assessing what stimuli might be relevant to your goals. Our brains have limited cognitive bandwidth and if we try to pay attention consciously to every little detail around us, we'll probably go insane.