Habitual auto pilot

“If we start to examine the general laws of perception, we see that as perception becomes habitual, it becomes automatic. Thus, for example, all of our habits retreat into the area of the unconsciously automatic; if one remembers the sensations of holding a pen or of speaking in a foreign language for the first time and compares that with his feeling at performing the action for the ten thousandth time, he will agree with us.”

Shklovsky discusses perception becoming habitual or automatic. Think about how many times you’ve heard someone use the phrase “auto pilot” to describe an action. I have this feeling fairly frequently after driving to work or driving home, where I remember getting to my car, and getting to my destination, but do I really remember the drive? The details blend together with the details from all the other times I’ve drove the same route. If I compare the first time I drove that route to now, it is a completely different experience, Shklovsky is absolutely right.

“After we see an object several times, we begin to recognize it. The object is in front of us and we know about it, but we do not see it-hence we cannot say anything, significant about it.”

I applied this to thinking about a toothbrush. When you look at a toothbrush, you think about brushing your teeth--even the name suggests its utility. If I stopped to think about it, I could describe my toothbrush in detail, but we do not do this every day, this general habitualization of our daily perception is what Shklovsky commenting on. The object becomes its utility and loses its own significance.