Practice Management

... Sorry ... where was I ... um, I was saying ... oh yeah ...

According to an article on BBC News, boring jobs turn our minds to autopilot or rest mode, whether we like it or not, which foreshadows mistakes.

So you real estate closing attorneys take head.

In the study reported on, participants were asked to repeatedly perform a "flanker task" - an experiment in which individuals must quickly respond to visual clues.  As they did so, brain scans were performed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).  What the experiment found was that the participants' mistakes were "foreshadowed" by a particular pattern of brain activity, and the scientist could detect a distinct shift in activity up to 30 seconds before the mistake.  This is because the brain starts to economize, and there is a reduction in activity in the prefrontal cortex.  And, it is not similar to going to sleep, it is more like autopilot.

I wonder if this is the same sensation that comes over us when we drive for long duration on the interstate highway, for example?

Scientist are working on this very classy pre-warning device.