Experienceswhether

Experienceswhether is a neologism used in some discussions of phenomenology and cognitive science. It denotes a cognitive state that pairs an experiential content with a meta-evaluative judgment about its occurrence or veracity. Put simply, it seeks to describe both what was experienced and whether the experience can be trusted as having occurred.

Origin and usage: The term is not widely standardized and appears primarily in theoretical texts and exploratory studies. It combines the words “experience” and “whether” to emphasize the conditional status of experiential reports, particularly in situations involving uncertainty or ambiguity.

Applications: In memory research, “experienceswhether” can frame reports where participants describe a remembered event and additionally indicate confidence or doubt about its authenticity. In perception and dream studies, it helps analyze reports that mix sensory content with judgments about veridicality. The construct supports analyses that separate the content of an experience from the epistemic status attached to it.

Relation to related concepts: The idea overlaps with metacognition, epistemic uncertainty, and confidence judgments, and intersects with phenomenology by focusing on subjective experience and its claimed status. Critics warn that the term is informal and may complicate analysis if used without clear definitions or measurement guidelines.

See also: metacognition; memory confidence; perceptual certainty; epistemic uncertainty; phenomenology.