Familiarity

Familiarity is the sensation or experience of recognizing something as already known or previously experienced, without necessarily being able to identify specific details or consciously recall the original moment or context. 


This feeling can occur in various situations, such as when encountering a place, a person, or an object, and can be described as the impression that something is "familiar" or "common," even if one does not know exactly why.


Which is the correct logo?


If you were unsure about which logo was the original and something made you choose one over the other, can you identify what influenced that decision? 


Was there a 'somatic marker'—bodily signals that guide choices (Damásio, 1994)—that played a role in it? If so, what might it be?


Try looking at both images again and observe what happens in yourself, noticing what makes you perceive one of them as more likely to be the correct one.


Before moving on to my phenomenological description of the familiarity process, try to perceive for yourself, in your own experience, how this happens.


The answers about which logo is correct are at the end.



〰



Description

When I look at one image and then the other, a feeling of strangeness arises in relation to one, while the other conveys a sense of familiarity. 


These sensations can be very subtle, and in such cases, identifying which is the correct one can be more difficult. 


This feeling is sometimes not due to an actual recognition of familiarity, but rather a perception of aesthetic harmony, which can lead to a mistake in choosing the original logo, as I may perceive the incorrect one as more harmonious. 


The sensation that arises is usually a very subtle physical and respiratory narrowing when I experience the strangeness, and, on the other hand, a sensation of openness, relaxation, and comfort when I see the image that is more familiar or harmonious. 


Again, as seen in other posts, the sensation of openness is related to the perception of movements in the throat region, which seem to alter the way air enters through the nostrils.


I realize that other factors can influence my choice, beyond the simple sense of familiarity. 


For example, I might find one logo aesthetically more harmonious than the other, yet choose the other as the correct one because some detail in its design caught my attention. 


This could be based on something stored in my memory — even if vaguely — or on rational arguments that lead me to believe it couldn’t be that way for conceptual or historical reasons, among others.


This creates a dilemma in deciding which is correct, and the decision is made without a sense of certainty. Sometimes, this also happens because the sensations of familiarity and strangeness are weak.


However, even when they are strong, rational arguments can dissuade me from choosing what I initially would consider the most correct.


Answer: The correct images, in both cases, are the ones on the right. 


Check out these posts to understand the phenomenological approach used in providing these descriptions of experience: 1) What is Phenomenology; 2) Naturalization of Phenomenology; 3) Micro-Phenomenology; 4) Intersubjective Validation; 5) Embodied Cognition; 6) 4E

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