Automatic processing is the unconscious encoding of incidental information. Space, time, and frequency are registered without deliberate effort or awareness. So is well-practiced skill.

When you later recall where on a page a particular fact appeared, or how many times you saw a colleague that day, you are retrieving information that was encoded automatically. Reading is another example: skilled readers process the meaning of words without consciously sounding them out. Driving a familiar route can become so automatic that the driver arrives with little memory of the individual turns.

Automatic processes are fast, require little attention, and are difficult to suppress once triggered. They free limited working-memory resources for tasks that still demand control. The cost is reduced flexibility; an automatic response can be inappropriate when the situation changes. Training moves many skills from controlled to automatic status—the goal of practice in music, sport, and many occupations.

Automatic processing is the cognitive system’s way of handling the predictable so that attention can be spent on the unexpected.