Watch out for the gorilla

"Be careful!" How many times have you heard that? But what does it mean to be careful? It is a habit of psychological research to study the failures of cognitive functions (perception, attention, memory, etc.). Remember that in the previous post we saw how the brain can misinterpret the sizes of two people in a room? Let's do the same with attention.

 

A famous experiment concerns a phenomenon called inattentional blindness. Participants were asked to watch a video in which some boys were passing a ball. The participants' task was to count the number of passes. At the end of the test, they were asked, "Did you notice anything unusual?"

In the video, while the boys were passing the ball, a man in a gorilla suit walked through the scene. Do you think it's obvious that everyone noticed the gorilla? The result might surprise you. The experiment was repeated in eight different conditions, and in four of these, less than 50% of the participants reported seeing the gorilla. In two conditions, less than 10% even noticed it.

What happened? Attention is "that something" that allows us to be more efficient when we are engaged in a task (such as counting ball passes). This can come at a cost: for example, the inability to perceive a clearly visible but unexpected stimulus (such as noticing a gorilla crossing the scene).

After reading the story of the gorilla, would you drive while talking on the phone? The data show a very high number of car accidents for individuals who talk on the phone (even through Bluetooth), but not as high in cases where the driver talks to a passenger in the car. Why? Evidently, the passenger is aware of possible attention overload and adjusts the conversation accordingly. This is obviously not possible on the phone.

How often do you talk on the phone while driving? Do you ask the person you are talking to, to wait a moment because you need to focus?

If you want me to describe in my own words a topic of psychology, please request it in the comment section.

Cited sources: Simons and Chabris  (1999) - Gorillas in our midst: Sustained inattentional blindness for dynamic events. You can read wikipedia page "Inattentional blindness".