That seems to be an example of our general tendency of treating all stimuli relative to their surroundings (both spatially, in time, and in abstract sense). A word's meaning only matters in contrast to other words combining it into some composite expression. If no such expression comes up, the brain tries to break down the word and look at a lower level.
This makes sense, but it reminds me a lot of how we filter out sensations after so long (i.e., we can't smell a bad odor after a certain amount of time, or we stop noticing a certain annoying sound after so long).
I cannot remember or find the term for this but iirc it's Psych 101.
Lay down in bed, looking at the ceiling, the main light just to the side of your central vision. And the lamp disappears (until your move your eyes) :-)
Exactly. Say you are standing on the side of an empty road. You'll certainly notice the first car that passes, maybe the second and the third. As the traffic intensifies, you'll eventually stop noticing the individual cars and assume they are part of the background.
I would add that it’s almost all stimuli. One could only wish that pain worked this way (unfortunately, no matter how many body parts hurt, it doesn’t mean only the one that hurts the worst is the only one that appears to hurt).
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That seems to be an example of our general tendency of treating all stimuli relative to their surroundings (both spatially, in time, and in abstract sense). A word's meaning only matters in contrast to other words combining it into some composite expression. If no such expression comes up, the brain tries to break down the word and look at a lower level.
Seems naturally very close to Shannon's theory of information; a symbol has meaning in proportion to how unexpected it is.
Also to de Saussure's original structuralism.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Saussure
That is really a brilliant connection, that I would not have made. Thank you!
This makes sense, but it reminds me a lot of how we filter out sensations after so long (i.e., we can't smell a bad odor after a certain amount of time, or we stop noticing a certain annoying sound after so long).
I cannot remember or find the term for this but iirc it's Psych 101.
I found these though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_party_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_auditory_attention https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stimulus_filtering
Habituation? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habituation
Yes! That's exactly what I was thinking of!
I think it's the same basic process.
Lay down in bed, looking at the ceiling, the main light just to the side of your central vision. And the lamp disappears (until your move your eyes) :-)
Exactly. Say you are standing on the side of an empty road. You'll certainly notice the first car that passes, maybe the second and the third. As the traffic intensifies, you'll eventually stop noticing the individual cars and assume they are part of the background.
I would add that it’s almost all stimuli. One could only wish that pain worked this way (unfortunately, no matter how many body parts hurt, it doesn’t mean only the one that hurts the worst is the only one that appears to hurt).