Why you happen to notice the same thing frequently?

After hearing a word for the first time, you may hear the same word frequently in different places within a short interval.

It may feel like it is happening to you like a coincidence. or because of some other mythical reasons.

This phenomenon of frequently noticing the same thing again and again after noticing it for the first time is called “Frequency Illusion” or Baader–Meinhof phenomenon or frequency bias.

It is also called cognitive bias. Why?

Even though you heard/have seen the same thing before you notice them (aware of it) for the first time, your brain selectively ignores the same. Because to reduce the cognitive load, your brain doesn’t process any new words and assumes them as irrelevant to the current process or scenario.

But after you came to aware of something, then it is quite easy for your brain to notice its presence even with a very slight cognitive load.

Hope you learned something new today. See you next time.