The Frequency Illusion, also known as the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, is a cognitive bias wherein a person notices a specific concept, word, or item far more frequently shortly after recently becoming aware of it. This illusion is not due to an objective increase in the phenomenon, but rather a result of heightened awareness. It operates through two primary psychological processes: selective attention, which focuses the brain on relevant stimuli, and confirmation bias, which reinforces the perception by leading individuals to notice evidence that supports their hypothesis while disregarding contradictory information.Linguist Arnold Zwicky coined the term "frequency illusion" in 2005, highlighting that professional linguists and ordinary people are susceptible to it. Research has been conducted across various domains to study this effect and its mechanisms. For instance, Zwicky noted the exaggerated perception of quotative 'all' usage among young speakers; transcription analysis showed its actual frequency was very low. Separately, studies investigated the related illusory truth effect, finding that repeating trivia statements up to 27 times increased their perceived truthfulness. A computational, agent-based model examined confirmation bias in a signal detection task, where agents detected A or B signals, with their bias determined by the first signal successfully detected.The research yields several key learnings: in the agent model, biased agents generally outperformed unbiased agents when signal environments were imbalanced, suggesting confirmation bias can act as an advantageous heuristic by adjusting attention towards the most common type of data. Additionally, in the illusory truth research, increases in perceived truth were found to be logarithmic. The largest increase in perceived truth occurs after encountering a statement a second time, with subsequent repetitions leading to progressively smaller increases that may eventually lose practical impact. This evidence demonstrates that while initial intuitions (like those leading to the frequency illusion) can be a starting point for research, they must be rigorously tested, as subjective experience often leads to misapprehensions about actual frequency.

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