The psychology of mind-wandering – why some people are particularly bumpy

No matter how many times the car waits for its owner somewhere on the side of the road, the keys have to be looked for or food ends up on the blouse rather than the mouth: just because you often screw things up doesn’t mean you have to worry about your health. Error is not a disease. Of course, a person with dementia or disease stutters to some extent, but a person is not sick simply because a cell phone is constantly mysteriously disappearing into thin air.

Psychologist Sebastian Marquette, who researches putrefaction at the Humboldt University of Berlin, says most people have underestimated how difficult everyday life can be for their brain. In terms of perception, this is an amazing memory performance. When I put the switch I have to remember where I put it – then instantly forget it when I change location. I can remember his comment on the key holder – but who told me it was really today and not yesterday? “Things that are used frequently, such as keys, smartphones and glasses, thus tend to confuse the brain.