---
name: train-attention-switching
description: "Train focal and subsidiary attention switching for diagnosis, debugging, design review, and other judgment-heavy work. Use when the user wants to improve how experts shift between the whole situation and local signals."
---
# Train Attention Switching

Core judgment: expert performance depends on switching between the whole and the parts at the right moment.

## Use When

- The user wants to improve diagnosis, debugging, critique, or judgment quality
- Errors come from tunnel vision or scattered attention
- A learner needs help knowing what to focus on and when to zoom out

## Define the Two Layers

- focal awareness: the whole task, question, or outcome
- subsidiary awareness: the local cues being relied on underneath

Do not collapse them into one list.

## Workflow

### 1. Reconstruct a Real Episode

Use a real decision, review, diagnosis, or debugging session.

### 2. Mark the Attention Path

Identify:

- the focal goal at each phase
- the subsidiary cues being used
- the switch trigger that changed attention
- the false lure that stole attention

If you need a format, read `references/attention-audit-template.md`.

### 3. Expose the Miss

Ask:

- what signal was present but ignored
- what detail looked important but was misleading
- what would have triggered an earlier zoom-out or zoom-in

### 4. Design Switching Drills

Create short drills that force the learner to:

- name the focal goal before acting
- list the cues they are relying on
- state what would trigger a switch

## Output

Return:

- attention audit
- cue hierarchy
- switch triggers
- common false lures
- practice drill

## Do Not

- reduce the problem to "pay more attention"
- review only the final decision without the attention path
- train detail spotting without training when to return to the whole