Interestwhether

Interestwhether is a neologism used in philosophy, linguistics, and decision theory to denote a specific kind of cognitive interest: the desire to know whether a proposition is true, rather than to know its content or value. The term combines "interest" and "whether" and is typically employed to describe the meta-level orientation toward binary outcomes.

Origin and usage: The term has appeared in academic discussions and thought experiments since the early 2020s to capture a distinct information-prioritization pattern, particularly in studies of epistemic motivation and information-seeking behavior. It is not widely standardized and may be defined differently across sources.

Definitions and senses: In one sense, interestwhether is a measure of the subjective value assigned to resolving a yes-no question. In another sense, it is an information-theoretic criterion used to decide whether obtaining an answer leans toward answering the "whether" question rather than elaborating on the content of the answer. It is sometimes treated as an index or parameter in experimental tasks.

Applications and examples: Researchers in decision theory may model curiosity with an interestwhether parameter to predict when people seek information about outcomes rather than about explanations. In natural language processing, tagging for interestwhether can help systems predict user needs when the decision depends on binary outcomes. Example: "The participant's interestwhether in whether the device will fail influenced their willingness to pay for diagnostics."

Limitations: The term lacks a universally accepted definition, and its utility depends on clear operationalization. It is also easily conflated with general epistemic curiosity or information value, so precise usage is required in scholarly work.