So you think you’re paying attention.
Count how many times the folks in white T-shirts in the video below pass the basketball to each other.
That’s an example of a phenomenon known as inattentional blindness or perceptual blindness.
Through our five senses, the brain receives a wealth of information in a constant flow. How much of it the pink goo inside our cranium chooses to focus on is a matter researchers have been trying to determine.
Instead of information overload, the brain opts to filter out data that it considers unnecessary including omitting things that are right in front of our eyes. The sensory information is considered less than useful to the task at hand and is discarded.
This is how magicians fool their audiences. It plays into the sleight of hand they need to perform their tricks. It’s part of that misdirection thing. “Hey audience focus on this tiny ball in my hand,” while I shuffle around an entire zoo in the background.
There are several videos that show off and exploit this unusual human trait, some purely for entertainment and others in the name of research. There’s even one that plays it up as a public service announcement for bicycle safety in the UK.
Next time you claim you were paying attention, think again or at least “think” a little more closely.
Tags: inattentional blindness, perceptual blindness, change blindness, sleight of hand, Daniel Simons, focus, red herrings
