I didn’t need to learn the name of this effect to know that it exists.
Wait. Why did I come up here?
It’s only with a single-minded focus, or by carrying some physical object, that I can remember why I have walked into a room. At least once a day, I find myself striding into the basement or the bedroom or the kitchen and—
Huh. Why did I come in here again?
It’s a comfort to know that I’m not alone. Something happens to our brains when we enter a new space. From my basic research into the effect, the science isn’t settled on why this happens, though science has confirmed it exists.
No doubt there’s something very old about the mechanism. I can imagine going back to a moment in our evolution as a species when it paid to be alert (meaning it kept you alive) when entering a new space, say, a cave or a clearing. What do I notice about this space? What seems out of the ordinary? Is that a bear?
It sounds absurd to carry this old instinct into the generally safe familiarity of our homes, but that seems to be what our silly brains are up to.
As an aside, there’s an interesting opportunity here for anyone planning the event.
You can leverage the doorway effect to our advantage by considering what happens the moment someone enters a space.
Between the priming and preparation and the actual opening of a gathering, there is another, often overlooked step: ushering. In many gatherings, your guests will benefit from being carried across a proverbial threshold, leaving the wide world and entering your small kingdom.
Priya Parker
I love this idea of crossing a threshold into an event or gathering. Everyone instinctively recognizes those moments when magic happens entering into a event. Our brains are primed to sense it! What Parker observes is the often-lost opportunity to take advantage of that doorway effect.
Taylor Coe 