As we master any activity, the brain conserves its fuel by putting that action on “automatic”; cuing up that activity shifts from top-of-the-brain circuits to the basal ganglia far below the neocortex. We’ve all accomplished the hard-at-first to no-sweat transition when we learned to walk—and as we’ve mastered every other habit since. What at first demands attention and exertion becomes automatic and effortless.
