What are the properties of automatic processing? Give some examples of automatic behaviors.

What are the properties of automatic processing? Give some examples of automatic behaviors.

The main properties of automatic processing are, that it (1) occurs without intention (it happens automatically without the person intending to do it) and (2) only at the cost of some of the person's cognitive resources. Examples are, locking your door in the morning, driving to work and back or typing. These tasks are so well practiced and repeated, that they result in automatic processing.

The main properties are that highly practices reactions become automaticized, requires little cognitive resources and they can go without intention (hence the name "automatic"). One example would be putting on your contact lenses in the morning after you wake up (its annoying I tell you, but it just goes automatically).

Another example of automatic behavior is reading when presented with letters. This is illustrated well in the Stroop-task where it occurs not only without intention, but it is actually so automatic that it is difficult to "turn off" or suppress. Another real life example is when you find an awesome movie but it turns out to have finnish subtitles (non-removable), this happened to me when watching the lord of the rings once, I would notice myself trying to read the finnish subtitles although I don't speak a word of finnish. This was automatic and very annoying, do not recommend it.