perceptual task processing capacity distraction

A difficult task can make distractions easier to ignore

A hard visual task can use most of the brain's available attention, leaving less capacity for irrelevant sights and sounds. An easy task leaves more attention free, so distracting information is more likely to get through.

Flying is safer per kilometer than bus or rail

About 10×

Measured per passenger-kilometer—the distance traveled by one passenger—air travel is about 10 times safer than bus or rail travel. Measured per journey, flying is significantly more dangerous than traveling by car, rail, or bus.

Energy survives when hot and cold water mix — but becomes less useful

Mix hot water with cold water and the final mixture contains essentially the same total energy, assuming none escapes. Yet you can no longer extract as much useful work from the temperature difference. The energy has not vanished; it has spread out. This is one way to understand why entropy increases in everyday processes.

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perceptual task processing capacity distraction

A difficult task can make distractions easier to ignore

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