Action Slips: Comfort in Forgetfulness

A woman plans a detour to do some grocery shopping on her way home, but instead her car seems to drive directly home "by itself." A young man returns home after a workout and tosses his sweaty T-shirt into the toilet. (This was not simply an aiming error. The laundry hamper, his intended target, was in another room.) A woman fills an electric coffeepot with water, plugs it in, and turns it on, but forgets …

…do. There is another way to catch our slips of action. Our error may often cause something unexpected to happen, making the problem obvious. If you have been suffering from many slips of action lately, this does not mean that you are becoming senile or suffering from Alzheimer's disease. However, it does mean that you need to monitor your behavior more carefully, especially those tasks that have become automatic, because you know them so well.