4 ms·

Why you think your phone is vibrating when it is not

8 points by schrofer 13y ago

csense 13y ago
I read -- in another piece, somewhere else, a long time ago -- a speculation that the human brain is a pattern-recognition machine which is hard-wired with a bias toward false positives. Which can be evolutionarily explained -- if you think you see a large predator moving through tall grass, but it's just the wind, you pay the small cost of excess caution to stay hidden or fleeting exertion to run away as fast as possible -- but a false negative (failing to perceive the moving grass as a predator) is a much more costly mistake (resulting in being killed and eaten). So over time the survival advantage of a false-positive-favoring brain makes it more common. And this also explains the fact that certain aspects of religion -- attribution of natural phenomena to the action of unseen intelligent being(s) -- occur in most, if not all, human cultures. The attribution to intelligent agency, where no such link actually exists, is a false positive in pattern recognition terms. I'd appreciate it if someone could tell me where I found this idea, as I neglected to note the source at the time.
fideloper 13y ago
I never keep my phone in my pocket if I don't have to. The second I sit down somewhere, the phone's on a table or somewhere not near ... my crotch. This has completely eliminated the phantom vibrations I used to have (apparently reduced the psychological "connection" I had)
ignostic 13y ago
> "The second option is to shift your bias so that you are more or less likely to conclude “it’s ringing”, regardless of whether it really is." The author implies that this is entirely a conscious choice. Can it really be? Is our semi-conscious ability to filter and detect really stronger than our evolved nature? At any rate, if I could turn up the risk of feeling a phantom vibration while also increasing the probability I'll notice my phone vibrating, I would. I hate missing calls. I'm actually surprised by the cited study that it's within our control at all.

8 points by schrofer 13y ago

I read -- in another piece, somewhere else, a long time ago -- a speculation that the human brain is a pattern-recognition machine which is hard-wired with a bias toward false positives. Which can be evolutionarily explained -- if you think you see a large predator moving through tall grass, but it's just the wind, you pay the small cost of excess caution to stay hidden or fleeting exertion to run away as fast as possible -- but a false negative (failing to perceive the moving grass as a predator) is a much more costly mistake (resulting in being killed and eaten). So over time the survival advantage of a false-positive-favoring brain makes it more common. And this also explains the fact that certain aspects of religion -- attribution of natural phenomena to the action of unseen intelligent being(s) -- occur in most, if not all, human cultures. The attribution to intelligent agency, where no such link actually exists, is a false positive in pattern recognition terms. I'd appreciate it if someone could tell me where I found this idea, as I neglected to note the source at the time.

fideloper 13y ago

I never keep my phone in my pocket if I don't have to. The second I sit down somewhere, the phone's on a table or somewhere not near ... my crotch. This has completely eliminated the phantom vibrations I used to have (apparently reduced the psychological "connection" I had)

ignostic 13y ago

> "The second option is to shift your bias so that you are more or less likely to conclude “it’s ringing”, regardless of whether it really is." The author implies that this is entirely a conscious choice. Can it really be? Is our semi-conscious ability to filter and detect really stronger than our evolved nature? At any rate, if I could turn up the risk of feeling a phantom vibration while also increasing the probability I'll notice my phone vibrating, I would. I hate missing calls. I'm actually surprised by the cited study that it's within our control at all.