Filtered dossier

attention

  • 10 / 10
  • No visual on file
    Platform Mechanics Entry #0276

    Why the feed shows what keeps you, not what you wanted

    A ranked feed is optimised for the next minute of attention rather than for the thing you opened the application to do.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0276

    A feed answers what will keep you here, which is a different question from what you came for.

    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
    Habit Loops Entry #0306

    The reason phone use rises when the phone is face down

    Turning the screen away removes the glance and leaves the reaching. What was a two-second look becomes a pick-up, and a pick-up rarely ends in two seconds.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0306

    Visibility and availability are different levers. Removing the glance does not remove the reach; it lengthens it.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Narrative Structure Entry #0541

    The reason a chronology is rarely the best order

    Events happened in one order. They become interesting in another, because interest depends on what the audience already knows and time does not track that.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0541

    Chronology orders events by cause. Attention orders them by consequence, and the audience only has access to the second.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Narrative Structure Entry #0538

    Why documentaries choose one family over a statistic

    A number describes a population and asks to be evaluated. A single household can be followed, and following is what attention is built to do.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0538

    Feeling does not scale with the number of people affected. One case is not an example of the statistic — it is the only version that registers.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Cognitive Bias Entry #0118

    The reason you see the pattern only after somebody names it

    The pattern was always in front of you. A name gives it a category, and a category is what perception needs in order to sort anything into it.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0118

    A name is not a description of a pattern. It is the instrument that makes the pattern detectable.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Attention & Memory Entry #0200

    Why the mind edits a memory every time it is used

    Recalling something is not reading a file. The record is opened, made briefly changeable, and written back including whatever was present during the recall.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0200

    Recall opens the file for writing. Every retelling saves a version that includes the room it was told in.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Attention & Memory Entry #0199

    The reason an unfinished sentence holds attention longest

    An interrupted task stays active in a way a completed one does not. The pull is not curiosity about the answer but an accounting entry left open.

    Master
    The hidden part #0199

    What holds you is not the missing answer. It is an open entry, and only completion closes it, which is why finishing something bad still feels necessary.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Attention & Memory Entry #0198

    Why you remember the exception and forget the rule

    Memory does not store what happens most often. It stores what stood apart from its neighbours, which is why the archive over-represents the unusual.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0198

    Distinctiveness is a contrast, not a property. Memory keeps whatever failed to resemble its neighbours, then lets you estimate frequency from it.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Attention & Memory Entry #0197

    The reason a smell reaches memory before a photograph

    A photograph is recognised and then interpreted. A smell arrives already emotional, because its pathway reaches memory structures before the naming apparatus.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0197

    A smell delivers the feeling before the label. Every other sense sends the label first and lets the feeling catch up.

    Open file