Chasing Down the Research Behind the 60000x Claim

“60000 Times Faster? Who Says That’s True?” animated GIF by @aforgrave

So there is a claim that has been floating around since the 80s that “we process visual images 60000 times faster than text.” The claim has appeared in numerous powerpoints and keynotes, but it seems to have very little concrete research to support it.

Alan Levine (@cogdog) has written numerous posts on the topic, and has even offered up USD$60 for evidence of the original source behind the claim — now doubled to USD$120 to encourage someone at the upcoming @nmcorg conference to take a little cross-town walk in support of a little detective work. Check out the full story with this series of posts on Alan’s blog.