Baader Meinhof Phenomenon: If you know something, you probably will soon hear about it again

You may have heard about the phenomenon Baader Meinhof before. Maybe even you have heard about it recently. If not, most likely, you will soon hear again. Baader Meinhof Phenomenon is that once heard or read something you do not know you very soon again come across the same information that was in the public domain before, but until you do not reach. And often more than once. The phrase "so strange, I recently heard about it," actually, detects the presence of the phenomenon.

Most people faced with this phenomenon, at least a few times in life, while others are faced with this so regularly that readmissions are waiting for new information. But what is the cause of the phenomenon? Is there some hidden meaning behind the phenomenon Baader Meinhof?

The phenomenon has some similarities with the synchronicity that is the experience of many coincidences. It seems that as soon as you think about where this or that person, or that it would be necessary to call him as the bell rings from him. Both of these phenomena causes a feeling of light surprise, and makes think about the probability of such a coincidence. In both cases, often recall the fate when it seems there is a mechanism that determines what should happen. as if we are seeing a domino, which is destined to fall in a series of events outside our control.

Despite the belief of science that we ourselves cause frequent coincidence, something tells us that this explanation is insufficient. Our experience shows that frequent collisions with previously unknown information is too precise and often to be explained so simply. But seeing itself very imperfect, and he can not be fully trusted.

The reason is that our mind is a prisoner of finished installations in respect of patterns (pattern here: the trend; approx. Mixednews.ru). Our brain is an excellent tool for pattern recognition, this feature is very useful for teaching, but also leads to the fact that the brain attaches great importance to a minor event. Given the bombing of the names, words and ideas that a person is exposed to on a daily basis, it is not surprising that sometimes we are faced with the same information again in a short time. When there is a coincidence, the brain pays attention to this, because the two cases already constitute the start of a sequence. We do not notice the hundreds of thousands of bits of information that does not repeat, because they do not line up in a certain sequence. The property ignore the "uninteresting" data is an example of selective attention.

In fact the property matches are perception. People tend to underestimate the probability of coincidence of events, so our expectations are at odds with reality. A non-matching events do not attract our attention, because the match is the trend, and the brain spodvigaet us to a careful selection of patterns ... and therefore a higher value for their brain than non-matching events. In short, patterns are a kind of habit of perception.

But when we hear the name or fact which heard just yesterday, it seems that this is something more than just a coincidence. This is because the phenomenon increases the effect of novelty, cognitive distortion, which reinforces the importance of previous observations. This in turn increases the future care with respect to certain of the fact that we once again be faced with it in the near future.

Why is the phenomenon got its name is unknown. Maybe someone has studied German urban guerrilla groups, in particular the "Red Brigades" Baader Meinhof, and then again after a short time I heard about them.

But no matter how called the phenomenon, we can say with confidence that the phenomenon Baader Meinhof its magic and mystery dilutes stagnant and boring science, and its sinister cohort: the facts. And if you've never heard of this phenomenon before, wait for the next mention of him in the next few days.

via factroom.ru