We usually see only the things we are looking for – so much so that we sometimes see them where they are not.
– Eric Hoffer
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There’s an electronic analog to this: search for a signal with a tuned resonator. But these can go into pathological self-resonance and produce output for no input. I hypothesize there are equivalent neurological pattern resonance circuits with similar problems.
Then there is this old joke:
Drunk loses his keys in a dark spot of the road. Buddy asks him why is he looking for them under the street light. “Because I can see better there”.
Exercise for the reader: can you think of a current real-world example of this behavior?