How do you revise your belief set with %$;@*?

TL;DR

This paper introduces a perception-based belief revision theory that accounts for both conscious and unconscious acceptance of information, including latent beliefs that can become visible as beliefs change.

Contribution

It extends classic AGM belief revision by modeling how perceived information and latent beliefs interact and evolve over time.

Findings

Latent beliefs can become visible as beliefs change.

Perception influences which parts of information are accepted.

The theory integrates unconscious belief acceptance into belief revision.

Abstract

In the classic AGM belief revision theory, beliefs are static and do not change their own shape. For instance, if p is accepted by a rational agent, it will remain p to the agent. But such rarely happens to us. Often, when we accept some information p, what is actually accepted is not the whole p, but only a portion of it; not necessarily because we select the portion but because p must be perceived. Only the perceived p is accepted; and the perception is subject to what we already believe (know). What may, however, happen to the rest of p that initially escaped our attention? In this work we argue that the invisible part is also accepted to the agent, if only unconsciously. Hence some parts of p are accepted as visible, while some other parts as latent, beliefs. The division is not static. As the set of beliefs changes, what were hidden may become visible. We present a perception-based belief theory that incorporates latent beliefs.