If they’re interested in studying confusion, I ask them to tap their leg every time they notice they’re confused.
I tried this! It was enlightening. I didn’t realise it, but I don’t quite understand what my ‘confusion’ label is actually pointing at. I found myself confidently tapping my leg and then pausing, unsure of whether what was going on was truly confusion.
After a couple of days of this, what I think is going on is that I both did and didn’t have separate labels for ‘ignorance’ and ‘predictive error’. Some part of me was confidently tapping my leg whenever I didn’t know something, and another part was saying “I don’t feel confused, though. I just don’t know, and I know that I don’t know”.
I already knew intellectually that the territory is stranger than I give it credit for, but I think this is one of the best examples of observing that first hand. It’s more qualitatively different to listening to somebody say “Here’s a label that confuses me” than I would ever have dreamt.
I tried this! It was enlightening. I didn’t realise it, but I don’t quite understand what my ‘confusion’ label is actually pointing at. I found myself confidently tapping my leg and then pausing, unsure of whether what was going on was truly confusion.
After a couple of days of this, what I think is going on is that I both did and didn’t have separate labels for ‘ignorance’ and ‘predictive error’. Some part of me was confidently tapping my leg whenever I didn’t know something, and another part was saying “I don’t feel confused, though. I just don’t know, and I know that I don’t know”.
I already knew intellectually that the territory is stranger than I give it credit for, but I think this is one of the best examples of observing that first hand. It’s more qualitatively different to listening to somebody say “Here’s a label that confuses me” than I would ever have dreamt.