"I can't remember everything!". We often use this excuse to justify the constant distractions we experience in daily life and that sometimes have tragic consequences on people's existence. But distraction also plays an important positive role, for example when it separates us from negative emotions. Above all, it would be wrong to think that distraction, as we often erroneously infer, is the opposite of attention. This book's author ventures into literature and philosophy and offers the reader a rich, exhaustive representation of this complex mechanism that influences human intellect. What exactly is distraction? How does it work? How can one control it? What are its costs and benefits? And what relationships does it enjoy with other fundamental mental processes, such as emotions and memory?

Maria A. Brandimonte teaches Psychology of Cognitive Processes at the Suor Orsola Benincasa University in Naples.