effortless attention
attention that is active, focused, and task-directed but that involves little or no subjective experience of exertion. It is associated with absorbing activities, such as reading a good book, and with tasks in which there is a balance of challenges with skills, as when a skilled athlete plays sports or a skilled musician plays a musical instrument. High levels of arousal, control, and relaxation are involved, and there is often a strong sense of flow or momentum. See also postvoluntary attention. [described in 2010 by U.S. philosopher and cognitive scientist Brian Bruya (1966– )]