#interfacetheory: Digital Event September 2015

Interface theory postulates that our perception operates like a species-specific desktop: We perceive the world in representations that do not represent the “truth” about the world as it actually is, but that are useful “icons” which represent fitness-relevant information about the world. To illustrate, imagine a world in which red and green berries are nutritious but blue and yellow berries make you sick. Will your perceptual system differentiate red from green and blue from yellow? According to interface theory, the answer is no—the organism will have evolved to differentiate between only two colors, namely gred and byellue.

Author

  • Stephan Lewandowsky

    Stephan Lewandowsky's research examines memory, decision making, and knowledge structures, with a particular emphasis on how people update information in memory. He has also contributed nearly 50 opinion pieces to the global media on issues related to climate change "skepticism" and the coverage of science in the media.

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