I'd heard of this study before and it actually has some surprising things to say about visual cognition and the ability of the human mind to focus.
Okay, so before the discussion, go watch this video and pay careful attention.
Count the number of times a white shirted player passes the ball to another white shirted player. The black shirted players are just a distraction. See if you can count them correctly.
Click here to watch the video.
Once you've watched it, come back and click below for the answer and the discussion.
Okay, so here's the skinny. I told you a little bit of a fib. The actual number of passes is irrelevant. Did you notice the guy in the gorilla suit? Trust me, he was there. In the middle of that video, a gorilla walks right into the middle of the frame, beats his chest, and then walks off.
Did you see him? If so, good for you. If not, don't worry about it. Less than half of the people in the official study noticed him. It's a demonstration of a mental phenomena known as "inattentive blindness."
When you are focusing carefully on something, the brain has a natural ability to screen out the extraneous details. Now, most of the time, that's a good thing. How would you like it if your heart surgeon kept getting distracted by the hum of the air conditioner?
However, there are other times when it can be a big big problem. For example, when you're having that really critical cell phone conversation on the Interstate?
The human brain really is an amazing thing sometimes.
.
Name:Christiana Ellis
Name:Mike Meitín
