cross-referencing and feedback mechanisms using all
parts of the body and brain. Over time, they can enable us
to bootstrap ourselves out of our blind instincts and habits
into something resembling wisdom.
Embodied thought as described in the Sutta—allowing the
body to be part of the process of cognition—is a powerful skill.
It enables us to follow a thought at length without getting
distracted; to return to silence at will; to stop a thought and
see it in its broader context; to see the valence of a thought;
to see the emotions around it; to assess the state of mind in
which the thought is being processed; to catch and remember
any insight that arises; to compare the value of one train of
thought against another; and finally to walk away from the
thought-world completely when the mind needs to rest and
digest.
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21
Attention
The Buddha said, “The systematic four-stage training in
attention is the only way to enlightenment.” My students
quickly realize that the main skill I want them to learn is
attention, and that relaxation and mental calm are just spin-
off benefits that arise from focusing on the body.
Attention is an underrated, neglected, and misunder-
stood function, except perhaps in the field of education,
where the effects of its deficiency are painfully obvious.
We tend to assume that we can always pay attention when
we want to, or that we could always focus better if we tried.
Psychologists often disparage attention as being irrelevant
to mindfulness. Meditators see it as a chore, and few peo-
ple develop it as a skill unless they have to. Nonetheless this
book is all about attention, so it is worth examining it in
more technical detail.
Let’s start at the cellular level. The overriding purpose
of the nervous system throughout the animal kingdom
is to initiate movement in response to stimuli. This is why
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animals have a nervous system and plants don’t. Plants are fixed in place, but animals constantly have to move toward
reward and away from danger.
Evolution tends to conserve primitive functions, so the
brain still does the same task as much simpler nerve cir-
cuitry: It initiates action. The great pioneer of research on
the frontal lobes of the brain, Joaquin Fuster, categorically
defines the purpose of the prefrontal cortex as “goal-directed
activity.” We evolved rational, thinking minds to make
decisions in situations that are too complex for instinct and
habit to deal with. To quote Fuster more fully: “The entirety
of the frontal cortex . . . is devoted to action of one kind or
another, whether it is skeletal movement, ocular movement,
the expression of emotion, speech, or visceral control. The
action can even be mental and internal, such as reasoning.
The frontal cortex is therefore ‘doer’ cortex, much as the
posterior cortex is ‘sensor’ cortex.”1
The nervous system operates according to what neurolo-
gists call a “perception-action cycle.” Nerve cells divide into
“afferent” sensory neurons that allow for perception, taking
in information, and “efferent” motor neurons that initiate
action on the basis of that information. However, that is not
the whole story. Between the input and output comes eval-
uation. Although the input may be simple and the output is
usually a single action, the evaluative process in between is
phenomenally complex.
The act of perception doesn’t copy an external object like
a camera does. Every sense perception is shredded into hun-
dreds of tiny components in specially designated regions of
the cortex. This information is then reassembled in parallel
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with other sensory, emotive, and memory data in so-called
“association areas.” This is how the brain recognizes an object
and attributes value to it prior to a response. For each sen-
sory neuron, there can be thousands of “interneurons” doing
this evaluative work. That’s how important it is. Making good
perception-response decisions determines happiness or mis-
ery for most humans, and life or death for animals.
The cycle of perception + evaluation + action (or inaction)
goes like this. You touch a hot stove (perception). You evalu-
ate it (bad). You pull back (action). We also met this dynamic
in chapter 16, on emotion at the atomic level: perception +
valence + action tendency. Simple information is processed
quickly. The perception-action cycle will happen in a nano-
second within a cell—the speed at which enzymes switch on
and off. The process is much slower when consciousness is
involved. It might take five seconds to decide which breakfast
food to buy. It might take thirty seconds to choose the best
route to drive across town.
The perception-action cycle at every level of the biologi-
cal hierarchy is self-regulating and continuous. Each action
instantly changes the local situation, which leads to new eval-
uations, and so on, resulting in a nonstop negative feedback
loop that balances out the activity for optimal results. These
feedback loops maintain homeostatic balance throughout
the body, and the same is true within the brain. The constant
backchat between thought, emotion, memory, and bodily
sensations optimizes our behavior. It is the preconscious
foundation of our intelligence.
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AUTOMATIC AND CONSCIOUS THINKING
Do you assume, like Descartes, that thinking is always conscious
and always reliant on language? Many scientists now believe that
a lot of high-quality thought occurs just below consciousness
and that it doesn’t need language. This dual-processing theory
argues that cognition (“mental processing,” or “thinking”) has
two operational modes: “automatic” and “conscious”—or intui-
tive and rational. Some scientists prefer more neutral terms: sys-
tem 1 and system 2. In other words, we have both an automatic
system for perceiving, evaluating, and responding to inputs
(system 1), and a conscious system (system 2).
The automatic system is primary. It operates continuously
and on parallel tracks day and night. We make most decisions
without reflecting on what we do. Our brains make literally
thousands of evaluations and choices each day. Shall I put on
the left sock before the right sock? Cross the road now or wait?
Continue doing this or switch to that? This “see-evaluate-do”
nervous-system processing is based on a colossal repertoire
of learned beh
aviors called “action schemas” that no longer
require much conscious thought.
We can get dressed, drive, eat, work, shop, talk to col-
leagues and family, answer the phone—all on automatic
pilot. These action schemas take years to learn. A successful
life largely depends on developing ever more sophisticated
action schemas, routines, habits, flow-on sequences, proto-
cols, algorithms, and see-do responses. What we do on auto-
matic pilot can be very clever indeed. The automatic system
should never be disparaged.
Brilliant as it is, the automatic system has limits. It relies
totally on pattern recognition and learned skills. It can
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manage yes-no options but not either-or. It can’t make side-by-side comparisons. It is hopeless at mathematics. It is oriented
to instant gratification and has no sense of future planning.
Above all, it can’t manage novel situations.
Fortunately, the automatic system does know its limita-
tions. It includes a sort of radar function designed to detect
errors, internal conflicts, and shortcomings. The command
center seems to be in the anterior cingulate cortex in the fore-
brain, where signals from consciousness, emotion, and the
body all meet. This self-monitoring is a paradoxical kind of
automatic metacognition. When it realizes it can’t cope, the
automatic system bumps the problem upstairs. It calls on
the conscious system to get involved. This is when we start to
deliberately pay attention. This is when we become mindful.
The conscious system sees consequences and options that
the automatic system can’t imagine. It is more cool, rational,
and farsighted, but at the price of being considerably slower. It
makes its more informed decisions long after the automatic sys-
tem has initiated the first response, so it has to play catch-up. It
will typically overrule or modify the “quick and dirty” rule-of-
thumb evaluations of the automatic system. Once everything
is back on track, it lets the automatic system take over again.
We invariably regard attention as a fully conscious function,
but this neglects its automatic dimensions. It is better to think of
attention as the way we distribute our cognitive and metabolic
resources across the whole spectrum of mental activity. Atten-
tion is like a paymaster handing out money (that is, glucose and
oxygen) for work to be done. It does this by activating particular
neural networks at the expense of others (selection) according to
what seems most salient at the time (evaluation).
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However, the paymaster is nothing like a CEO making
top-down decisions. The many competing demands from the
organism, thousands every second, are processed according
to feedback mechanisms. This activity is too complex and
chaotic for consciousness to handle. It is collective, local-level
decision-making on an unimaginably vast scale. This is why
it is so hard to “control” our attention. The boss can’t make
every decision in the factory.
Returning to our metaphor, “paying” attention is, in fact,
just like spending money. We first have to pay for food, shel-
ter, and clothing, and with luck we have some money left over
for discretional spending. Similarly, most of our attention
and cognitive resources go to keeping us alive, safe, and well.
Only the remainder is available for conscious attention. For-
tunately, automatic processes are fast and economical, and
they do most of the work.
Conscious attention is slower and more expensive. It acti-
vates the specific network of brain cells that supports the
mental representation of an object, and it massively increases
their energy consumption. This takes effort and so comes
with a high price tag. Conscious attention operates serially
rather than in parallel. It is more precise than the automatic
system, but it can only do one thing at a time. It also tends to
be a “stop, look, and evaluate” mechanism that can interrupt
our natural flow.
Over time, this is even physically exhausting. The Swed-
ish psychologist Anders Ericsson, famous for his research
on the kind of intensive training necessary for exceptional
musical ability, argues that even the best of us can only man-
age five or six hours a day of conscious attention. Whenever
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possible we will save energy, avoid hard thought, and operate on automatic pilot instead.
BOTTOM-UP AND TOP-DOWN ATTENTION
In his 1890 classic, The Principles of Psychology, William James
said, “Attention is the taking possession in clear and vivid form
of one of several simultaneously possible objects or trains of
thought.” In other words, attention is always “selective.” We select
one thought at the expense of competing thoughts—saying “yes”
to this and “no” to everything else. This involves “taking posses-
sion” or “holding something in mind.” Furthermore, we do so
because it makes that object or thought “clear and vivid.” Paying
attention to something massively enhances detail and recruits
the emotional tone of related memories to help evaluate it.
Yet we do seem to pay attention all day long to what we
are doing without much effort. It’s not hard to watch TV, then
have a conversation, and then engage in some task. Even when
doing nothing, we naturally focus on whatever thought or
sensation “catches our attention.” This is what psychologists
call “bottom-up,” or “reactive,” attention. It is our natural,
involuntary instinct to respond to what is in front of us. If the
things that grab our attention are mostly worthwhile—work,
people, knowledge—then bottom-up, reactive attention can
guide us through a very good life indeed. But we shouldn’t
count on life being that simple.
In complex situations we need to switch to “top-down,”
goal-directed, discriminating, “selective” attention instead.
This enables us to make calculated choices, defer gratification,
resist distractions, and plan a few steps ahead, even when we
really don’t feel like it. Top-down attention fine-tunes the way
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we move toward goals that are not immediately present. This is much harder to maintain than bottom-up attention.
We can usually focus well against competing alternatives
only when the issue is important (meet the deadline, feed the
child) or if the matter contains some inherent satisfaction or
intermediate reward (sweating at the gym, posting the let-
ter). But how do we stay focused on a remote but important
beckons? Research now indicates that willpower, like muscle
strength, is a limited resource that is readily depleted. When
we are suffering “decision fatigue,” we need a more subtle
strategy than “trying harder.” Sustained, top-down attention
is a skill that can be strengthened just as muscles can. It takes
many repetitions (like “reps” at the gym), corrective feedback,
good habits, and sufficient motivation.
Fortunately, the act of focusing has one excellent ally:
dopamine. If we feel what we are doing is worthwhile, the
reward circuitry of the brain steps in to support our efforts.
The neurotransmitter dopamine drip-feeds us regular small
doses of enthusiasm to keep us focused. We can magnify this
effect if we consciously notice our satisfaction, be it physi-
cal or mental, in what we are doing. We need dopamine as a
cheerleader for demanding tasks.
But if that gut feeling of value is lacking, then focusing
becomes a real chore. People often give up on meditating
because it doesn’t feel worth the time it takes. The rewards
seem too small. Nor are meditators much encouraged to be
mindful of the physical benefits and pleasures. For many
people, being inactive, sitting still, and “just watching” don’t
seem to be strong enough reasons to continue.
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IT TAKES TIME TO FOCUS
Researchers have discovered that we can’t focus instantly on
any new object. It takes time. They propose that the process has
three stages: (1) We disconnect from our previous thoughts, (2)
we orient toward the new object, and (3) we finally “lock on”
to that object. These last two stages are the equivalents of the
stages called vitakka and vicara in Pali (we touched on vitakka-vicara as an aspect of mindfulness in chapters 7 and 14).
To focus means activating the neural networks relating
to a new object while simultaneously cutting off supply to
the old ones. No matter how resolutely we try to abandon a
previous thought, it will still take a few seconds to vacate the
mental stage and fade into the wings. Until that disturbance
goes, we can’t focus well on anything new. As a rule of thumb,
the shift of energy supply from the old object to the new takes
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