Automaticity

This article is about automaticity of learning. For ability of cardiac muscles to depolarize spontaneously, see Cardiac muscle automaticity.
Driving in certain conditions may trigger 'highway hypnosis' in some people, which is an example of automaticity. Those who experience highway hypnosis often drive for long distances, responding to external events in the correct and safe manner, but have no memory of the time spent under highway hypnosis as a result.

In the field of psychology, automaticity is the ability to do things without occupying the mind with the low-level details required, allowing it to become an automatic response pattern or habit. It is usually the result of learning, repetition, and practice. Examples of tasks carried out by 'muscle memory' often involve some degree of automaticity.

Examples of automaticity are common activities such as walking, speaking, bicycle-riding, assembly-line work, and driving a car (the last of these sometimes being termed "highway hypnosis"). After an activity is sufficiently practiced, it is possible to focus the mind on other activities or thoughts while undertaking an automatized activity (for example, holding a conversation or planning a speech while driving a car).