Many of the daily tasks in which I engage in involve little or no attention. These tasks are said to involve automatic processing. This automaticity usually develops as the result of extensive practice. After years of engaging repeatedly in a set of processes, these processes occur with relatively little effort (Pearson Education, 2008). Driving, reading, swimming, running, walking, speaking, doing simple math skills, playing sports, and playing the guitar are some examples of actions that occur in my life because of automatic processing.
Automaticity is the tendency for cognitive processes to occur nonintentionally, unconsciously, and with little or no effort. Automatic processes can be quite difficult to abort or modify, due in part to the fact that they involve relatively little conscious monitoring. It is often the case that people make absentminded mistakes when they are engaged in automatic processing. Norman called these periods of absentmindedness action slips. Norman proposes that highly learned action sequences are controlled by organized memory structures called schemas, which is and organized body of knowledge that guides motor activities. Each schema is thought to cover only a limited range of knowledge. A given action sequence must be made up of a number of hierarchically organized schemas. Norman claims that once an action becomes highly skilled, only higher-level schemas need be activated to set a behavior chain in motion. Once it is set in motion it runs relatively mindlessly (Pearson Education, 2008).
Action slips can occur at any time during this schema activation. Some action slips can occur when schemas are triggered inappropriately. One type of slip called a capture error occurs when some sequence being performed is similar to one that is very familiar and well practiced. The schemas controlling the well practiced action sequence may become activated and take over. A data-driven error occurs when external events cause the...