Editing Automaticity (section)

==Disruption==
Automaticity can be disrupted by explicit [[attention]] when the devotion of conscious attention to the pattern alters the content or timing of that pattern itself.  This phenomenon is especially pronounced in situations that feature high upside and/or downside risk and impose the associated psychological stress on one's conscious mind; one's performance in these situations may either ''a'') be unimpaired or even enhanced ("[[Flow (psychology)|flow]]") or ''b'') deteriorate ("[[Choke (psychology)|choke]]").

This effect has been named the "centipede effect" after the fable of the "[[Centipede's dilemma]]", where a toad immobilises a centipede simply by asking it how it walks. The centipede's normally unconscious locomotion was interrupted by conscious reflection on it.  The psychologist George Humphrey referred to this parable in his 1923 ''The story of man's mind'':<ref name=humphrey>{{cite book|last=Humphrey|first=George|title=The story of man's mind|year=1923|publisher=Small, Maynard and company|location=Boston|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tBxVAAAAMAAJ&q=centipede|page=109}}</ref> "No man skilled at a trade needs to put his constant attention on the routine work," he wrote. "If he does, the job is apt to be spoiled."