Filtered dossier

Hidden Logic

Ideas that behave differently than they look.

  • 12 / 12
  • No visual on file
    Attention & Memory Entry #0186

    Why reading on paper is remembered differently to screen

    Readers on paper locate a passage by where it sat on the page. Readers on screen scroll and the spatial anchor disappears.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0186

    Paper gives a passage a place. A screen gives it a position in a stream, which moves on.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Attention & Memory Entry #0184

    Why background music helps one task and ruins another

    Music with lyrics impairs reading and leaves arithmetic untouched. The damage is channel-specific, not a general drain on attention.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0184

    Music competes only with tasks that use the same channel. Lyrics fight language; a beat does not.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Attention & Memory Entry #0183

    The reason a familiar route feels shorter going home

    The outward journey takes longer than the return, though the distance is the same. What changed is what the traveller expected.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0183

    The road did not change. The forecast did. Duration is the gap between what happened and what was expected.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Cognitive Bias Entry #0104

    The opinion you defend hardest is the one you understood least

    The loudest defence usually protects the thinnest reasoning. Volume compensates for a foundation the speaker has never actually inspected.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0104

    Confidence is not compressed knowledge. A thin model has fewer visible gaps than a detailed one, so it is easier to defend loudly.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Attention & Memory Entry #0182

    Why sleep decides what yesterday meant

    A day deposits more than it can store. Sleep selects which portions are kept and which are discarded, and the selection is not random.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0182

    Sleep is not a gap in processing. It is when the day is edited into what will count as having happened.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Cognitive Bias Entry #0101

    Why you remember the one bad review out of forty

    Thirty-nine people were satisfied. You are thinking about the fortieth. That is not a flaw in your attention; it is the oldest filing rule the mind has.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0101

    The complaint is not more truthful than the praise. It is only cheaper to remember, and the mind mistakes ease of recall for weight of evidence.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Attention & Memory Entry #0180

    Why a moving object is remembered worse than a still one

    Tracking a moving target consumes the same capacity that encoding it into memory requires. The object is seen clearly throughout and recalled poorly afterwards.

    Master
    The hidden part #0180

    Position and identity are maintained by competing budgets. Tracking preserves where at the cost of what.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Paradox & Proof Entry #0158

    The reason more information can lower accuracy

    Adding weakly relevant detail to a judgement raises confidence and often leaves accuracy flat or worse. The extra material dilutes the signal it was meant to sharpen.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0158

    Non-diagnostic detail is averaged in rather than ignored. Confidence tracks volume of information; accuracy tracks its quality.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Cognitive Bias Entry #0103

    Why experts are worse at forecasting their own field

    The deeper someone knows a subject the more certain they become, and the certainty grows faster than the accuracy that should justify it.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0103

    Depth of knowledge widens the confidence gap. The expert who knows the most reasons also has the most material from which to build the wrong story.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Cognitive Bias Entry #0102

    The reason yesterday’s price feels like the right price

    A number you saw once becomes the standard against which every later number is judged, even when you cannot remember where the first one came from.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0102

    The last price paid is not evidence of the right price. It is the starting point of a comparison that was never asked for.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Cognitive Bias Entry #0106

    The reason near-misses feel like progress

    An outcome that almost succeeded is registered as skill developing rather than as a loss. In a chance process there is no such thing as almost.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0106

    Proximity is only informative where skill operates. In a chance process a near-miss is a loss wearing the costume of progress.

    Open file