Attention, Judgment & Algorithms

What did the signal actually measure?

A pause, a click, or a Like can reveal a pattern without revealing the whole person behind it.

Behavior produces neat-looking traces: a pause, a click, a Like, a score, a confidence rating. The tempting move is to turn the trace into a complete story about attention, accuracy, or identity.

These articles slow that move down. They separate signal timing from rule switching, prediction from identity, and the feeling of being informed from a decision that actually improved.

Open this path in the Evidence Atlas
Technology & Society

A Facebook Like for Curly Fries Helped Predict a Reasoning Score

A Facebook Like for Curly Fries helped predict a reasoning score as part of a wider pattern.

Boundary: It does not show that Instagram predicts personality, knows a person's real self, or uses those Facebook studies. Group prediction is not certainty about one person. Read the evidence Attention

Closely Timed Signals and Switched Rules Slow Responses Differently

Closely timed signals delayed the second response; in separate tests, switching rules was slower than repeating them.

Boundary: It does not establish one fixed cost of multitasking or explain everyday phone behavior. A similar delay can come from different tasks and does not identify its cause by itself. Read the evidence AI

One Case Study Found More Confidence, Not More Correct Answers

Everyone read the same case sections in the same order; confidence rose without a clear gain in correct answers.

Boundary: It does not show that more information always causes overconfidence or that AI research is useless. The study used one case, a small mixed sample, and a fixed order. Read the evidence Technology & Society

A High-Stakes Score Can Change the Work It Measures

Law schools reported changing admissions work and resource use around a public ranking.

Boundary: It does not show that every metric causes gaming, that all scores are invalid, or that a higher score never reflects better work. The AI-writing link is an application, not a tested result. Read the evidence