Why You Notice Red Cars

The reticular activating system sorts through the billions of pieces of information your senses take in and allows only the important signals through. Every moment, it filters out most background sights, sounds, and sensations so your conscious mind does not overload. When you buy a red sedan, that decision makes red sedans personally relevant, so your reticular activating system starts tagging them as important instead of ignoring them. As a result, after you buy that car, you begin noticing red sedans everywhere, even though you previously drove past them without paying attention.

Previous Fact Next Fact