Distributed Memory: Meaningless Patterns

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

In recent weeks, I have looked at the odometer in my car after parking at home in the evening and spotted 35200, 35300, 35500 and, today, 35600.

gradbot said...: I think this falls under the red light theory. Why are the lights always red? Because you don't notice the green ones.; 2/24/2010 10:51:00 pm
Jens said...: I'm always impressed by the fact how good humans are at spotting patterns. When I see numbers, such as 2945, I immediately notice that 1) every second digit is even/odd, 2) 45*2=90 (or 9/2*10=45) which therefor relates to the digit in front of them.

I can do this with virtually any number.; 3/03/2010 12:36:00 pm