Re: Cognitive bias and the "thirds" rule
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2017 10:54 am
Part of the reason for cognitive bias is that what we see is not so much a result of what impinges on our senses, but results from our predictions about what will be out there. A good read in that area is Andy Clark's 'Surfing Uncertainty: Prediction, Action, and the Embodied Mind '. Predicting correctly is something we do so often, that we believe it is truth. Sometimes we predict incorrectly, so believing these predictions is what we need to guard against.
Anecdata: The other day I was driving down a narrow country lane and saw a car ahead, started to brake, came around the bend and there was the approaching car. At least that is the order that my brain stored the action . Most likely I was predicting the possible presence of the oncoming car - using the same portion of the brain as processes sight, whilst reacting to the approaching bend. The real image confirming my prediction was then processed before the memory of the (bau) reaction to the bend. Either that or I am psychic .
Funny old things, these self-aware lumps of meat!
Anecdata: The other day I was driving down a narrow country lane and saw a car ahead, started to brake, came around the bend and there was the approaching car. At least that is the order that my brain stored the action . Most likely I was predicting the possible presence of the oncoming car - using the same portion of the brain as processes sight, whilst reacting to the approaching bend. The real image confirming my prediction was then processed before the memory of the (bau) reaction to the bend. Either that or I am psychic .
Funny old things, these self-aware lumps of meat!