Mike Carruthers

We stop noticing things.

And it's really interesting what our natural tendency to habituate does to us.

And I suspect you've never really stopped to think about it.

So now you can, along with my guest, Tali Sherritt.

Tali is a professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London and at MIT.

And she is founder and director of the Effective Brain Lab.

She's co-author of a book called Look Again, The Power of Noticing What Was Always There.

Hi, Tali.

Welcome to Something You Should Know.

So explain a little more about our tendency to habituate.

Well, you probably have to imagine that maybe it plays a role.

I mean, if something horrible happens to you, your child dies or something, you've got to find a way to get on with your life.

And by habituating or by being able to accept that, I guess that makes it easier.

I'm sure everybody's had that experience of getting something new and exciting like a car.

Or, you know, I remember when I got my house, the house I live in now.

When I first walked into it to look at it, I just, you know, I knew it.

For me, this was a great house, and I wanted this house.

But I knew.

I knew then, and it has come to be, that now it's just my house.

I mean, it's a nice house, but it's not as exciting now as it was then.