“Data data everywhere no time to think!
Information overload will make you sink!
Excess of even nectar is bad!
Data overflow will surely make you mad!”
We always know that knowledge is power and information or data is the king!
But do you know that there is a type of information which is actually blinding!
Metaphorically of course but still!
read on!
When we were residents, we had a teacher in pediatrics who was our on duty guide or duty medical officer!
He used to tell that, there are two doctors who are the most confident! First is of course the professor and the senior who knows everything and the other is the resident who actually knows nothing!
During our post graduation period also there was an associate surgeon who used to tell us that, “I am the most scared of the junior most doctors in the department!”
They apparently know only one thing or most of the time not much about the complication that they are virtually fearless!
It is like a child who would cross a road or simply jump down a cliff if allowed to do so since he or she does not know the risk!
There is also a group who have one single point or one single belief and information and then that makes them blind to any other matter!
This is called Information “blindness”!
The official definition is having high confidence in a belief which means our brains do not process contradictory information! an alternate definition in terms of business sense is —a condition where information exists but cannot be seen in a format or timely enough manner to make sound operational decisions!
Researchers have found that people are selective about the information that they process, depending on whether it confirms or contradicts a prior belief.
It has been shown that when people are highly confident in a particular decision, they selectively integrate information that confirms their decision, yet they do not process information which contradicts it. This biased intake of information might lead to inaccurate and skewed perspectives – a process highly relevant for many societal issues such as political or scientific debate.
The basic issue here is that you have a particular belief and you have some information on that belief then you would accept only that information, and you will reject any other opposing information!
The cognitive and neural mechanisms which causes people to ignore information that contradicts their beliefs is also a phenomenon known as confirmation bias.
For example, critics of climate change might ignore scientific evidence that indicates the existence of global warming. This is a common problem and a severe one if it affects the leaders and important decision makers of a country!
Just read about this study; 75 participants were asked to conduct simple task: they had to judge whether a cloud of dots was moving to the left or right side of a computer screen.
They then had to give a confidence rating (how certain they were in their response). After this initial decision, they were shown the moving dots again and asked to make a final decision.
Now the information was made even clearer the second time and could help participants to change their mind if they had initially made a mistake.
However, when people were confident in their initial decision, they rarely used this information to correct their errors!
Of course it also shows your confidence level which makes you more confident on your decision even if there are signs to prove that they may be wrong!
25 of the participants were also asked to complete the experiment in a brain scanner known as a magnetoencephalography (MEG) scanner. The researchers monitored their brain activity as they processed the leftward and rightward motion of the dots.
Based on this brain activity, the researchers evaluated the degree to which participants processed the newly presented information. When people were not very confident in their initial choice, they integrated the new evidence accurately. However, when participants were highly confident in their initial choice, their brains were practically blind to information that contradicted their decision but remained sensitive to information that confirmed their choice!
This of course is a limited analysis and comes into play only when the decision taken is later on proven to be wrong! If the decision and ‘gut’ feeling turned out to be correct that rest assured, even the psychologists would change their definition!
We succumb to information blindness in many ways. For an example that we can all relate to, think of all of the information we have at our fingertips thanks to Google and now AI!
There is a spectrum of usefulness between finding facts, piecing together information, and understanding what it means!
A common issue we doctors face is when the patient has already investigated his or her symptoms and signs and is now overwhelmed with information!
So when you have a mountain of data you must break it into smaller manageable pieces and then analyse the data! Or more importantly seek help! In the tsunami of information, it is always better to seek proper advice! Or maybe listen to some wise old man (or woman for that matter!); speaking of wise, reminds me of Ashok Kumar and his intro during Hum Log!
Now listen to the first rap song in the world sung by Ashok Kumar and sleep!
Shubh Ratri!
ramadocblog 