<p>Might <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia" rel="nofollow">apophenia</a> be the term you are looking for?</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The term is attributed to Klaus Conrad by Peter Brugger, who defined it as the "unmotivated seeing of connections" accompanied by a "specific experience of an abnormal meaningfulness". Apophenia has come to imply a universal human tendency to seek patterns in random information, such as gambling.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Also, as mentioned somewhere above, it is commonly found in patients with schizophrenia.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-25T01:03:22.013Z
I know what apophenia is. :).
oakad
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-25T01:10:54.950Z
@oakad ah, is this not it? Could have sworn I got it. :P Did you ever figure out what it is? If not, I can keep looking for you.
Sydney Maples
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-25T01:23:47.133Z
The phenomenon I was inquiring about is distinctively different. To give one pretty common example: sometimes people have thoughts occur to them in their (lucid) dreams and those thoughts trigger a joyful emotional response (to the tune of self admiration regarding the greatness and depth of the just procured thought); but when they are fully woken up, they suddenly apprehend that the "great" thought was nothing more than a triviality or nonsense. Now, some people appear to skip the apprehension phase. :)
oakad
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-24T17:15:06.560Z
2015-08-24T17:15:06.560Z
Sydney Maples
<p>There exists a psychological phenomenon whereupon a person may encounter a rather trivial or mundane statement or thought, but would not recognize it as such; instead a person would experience a sense of revelation and even pride in being able to think about that particular statement.</p>

<p>The above phenomenon may happen to everyone occasionally, but some people are considerably more prone to it and may experience trivial "intellectual revelations" on a regular and frequent basis. I recall reading an article on the topic, and apparently the phenomenon is well recognized and even has a proper name (something derived from Greek, if I'm not mistaken). Would anybody be able to remind me of that name for the sake of further research?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-29T21:26:23.477Z
Perhaps the word your looking for is "platitude"; otherwise I think It's often refered to as "philosophy".
jimpliciter
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-29T23:17:19.950Z
In abnormal psychology, this probably resembles mania. What you're asking about isn't necessarily pathological though, is it? I remember reading something about a part of the brain that is inhibited by psychedelics, producing a similar inability to recognize mundane stimuli and a consequently overactive sense of novelty, excitement, and subjective creativity (of the sort that might leave the rest of us rolling our eyes). Some degree of individual differences in the regular activity of that cognitive/neurological system probably occurs in the general population too.
Nick Stauner
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-30T14:56:54.260Z
@Nick Stauner The article I recollect reading was about general population. Obviously, similar behavior is common in children, but this is just a normal part of their development. Sometimes, however, it is carried on into the adult age and becomes pronounced enough to be considered abnormal.
oakad
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-28T12:44:16.370Z
Interesting questions. I know schizophrenics often experience this.
Christian Hummeluhr
<abnormal-psychology><personality><terminology><metacognition>
Tendency to see novelty in mundane and trivial statements
oakad
# Tendency to see novelty in mundane and trivial statements

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-08-29)

There exists a psychological phenomenon whereupon a person may encounter a rather trivial or mundane statement or thought, but would not recognize it as such; instead a person would experience a sense of revelation and even pride in being able to think about that particular statement.

The above phenomenon may happen to everyone occasionally, but some people are considerably more prone to it and may experience trivial "intellectual revelations" on a regular and frequent basis. I recall reading an article on the topic, and apparently the phenomenon is well recognized and even has a proper name (something derived from Greek, if I'm not mistaken). Would anybody be able to remind me of that name for the sake of further research?

**Tags:** abnormal-psychology, personality, terminology, metacognition

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Perhaps the word your looking for is "platitude"; otherwise I think It's often refered to as "philosophy".  
> **username_2**: In abnormal psychology, this probably resembles mania. What you're asking about isn't necessarily pathological though, is it? I remember reading something about a part of the brain that is inhibited by psychedelics, producing a similar inability to recognize mundane stimuli and a consequently overactive sense of novelty, excitement, and subjective creativity (of the sort that might leave the rest of us rolling our eyes). Some degree of individual differences in the regular activity of that cognitive/neurological system probably occurs in the general population too.  
> **username_0**: @username_2 The article I recollect reading was about general population. Obviously, similar behavior is common in children, but this is just a normal part of their development. Sometimes, however, it is carried on into the adult age and becomes pronounced enough to be considered abnormal.  
> **username_3**: Interesting questions. I know schizophrenics often experience this.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2015-08-24. Score: 2

Might [apophenia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia) be the term you are looking for?

> The term is attributed to Klaus Conrad by Peter Brugger, who defined it as the "unmotivated seeing of connections" accompanied by a "specific experience of an abnormal meaningfulness". Apophenia has come to imply a universal human tendency to seek patterns in random information, such as gambling.

Also, as mentioned somewhere above, it is commonly found in patients with schizophrenia.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I know what apophenia is. :).  
> **username_4**: @username_0 ah, is this not it? Could have sworn I got it. :P Did you ever figure out what it is? If not, I can keep looking for you.  
> **username_0**: The phenomenon I was inquiring about is distinctively different. To give one pretty common example: sometimes people have thoughts occur to them in their (lucid) dreams and those thoughts trigger a joyful emotional response (to the tune of self admiration regarding the greatness and depth of the just procured thought); but when they are fully woken up, they suddenly apprehend that the "great" thought was nothing more than a triviality or nonsense. Now, some people appear to skip the apprehension phase. :)  

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