We admire those who successfully make snap judgments in a rapidly changing environment (such as stock market traders, professional athletes, and Olympic diving judges). Chess masters are an example of those who must quickly predict what another person will do several turns later.

Gladwell explains how such experts function consciously and successfully during a challenge that's subconscious and often unsuccessful for the rest of us. Experts can instantly focus on the key elements and ignore the peripheral. Experts devote much of their life to a narrow range of human experience, and in the process amass a conscious wealth of useful information on all possibilities within that narrow range. For example, he describes professional food tasters who can tell which factory produced the cookie of a national brand, or who can explicitly describe the taste differences between Coke and Pepsi. Their training thus enables them to make very intelligent snap judgments within their area of expertise, but they may be just like the rest of us in other areas of life. Talent isn't the same thing as high intelligence, which assumes broader expertise.

We can't consciously stop our first impressions because they are processed by innate subconscious systems. Our large conscious forebrain provides an important option to first impressions, however, and allows us to balance our initial subconscious snap judgments with conscious reflective thought and decision that considers a broader range of information on the issue.

Next month's column will focus on that broader balanced form of expertise—commonly called wisdom. Where is it located in our brain, and how does it emerge?