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The Magic of Inattentional Blindness

  • Writer: Patricia Faust
    Patricia Faust
  • Jul 23, 2020
  • 3 min read

Magicians have amazed us with their ability to make things disappear right before our very eyes! These feats of magic have captured the attention of neuro-researchers. Studies of visual perception have demonstrated how little people see when we are not paying attention, a phenomenon known as ‘inattentional blindness’. Psychologist Brian Scholl, PhD of Yale University stated that “In contrast with a lot of research on visual perception, these studies are truly surprising for both scientists and laypeople because they are so at odds with how we assumed vision worked.”

Change Blindness

Beginning in the 1970s researchers began to recognize a phenomenon called ‘change blindness’. (https://www.apa.org). Change blindness is the failure to notice an obvious change. People often fail to detect change in their visual field, as long as the change occurs during an eye movement or when people’s view is otherwise interrupted.

Inattentional Blindness

Inattentional blindness is the failure to notice the existence of an unexpected item. This the inability of people to detect unexpected objects to which they are not paying attention. This is likely to occur if part of your attention is diverted to secondary tasks.

It is difficult to reduce the risk of inattentional blindness, as it is an unnoticed consequence of our adaptive ability to defend against information overload.

There is an excellent example that researchers use in explaining inattentional blindness. This is called the ‘gorilla test’. You might be aware of this experiment. This experiment was carried out by Christopher Chabris, Ph.D., and Daniel Simons, Ph.D. Researchers asked the participants to watch a video of people tossing a basketball, and observers were told to count the number of passes or to keep track of the numbers of throws versus bounce passes. Afterward, the participants were asked if they had noticed anything unusual while watching the video. Across all of the tests, approximately 50% of the participants reports seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

There was something very odd that did happen. A woman dressed in a gorilla suit strolled through the scene, turned to the camera, thumped her chest and walked away. It surely seems impossible that participants missed this event, but their attention was focused elsewhere and on a demanding task, the gorilla basically became invincible.

Instead of focusing on every tiny detail in the world around us, we tend to concentrate on things that are most important, relying on our existing schemas to ‘fill in the blanks’. Our cognitive, attentional and processing resources are limited, this allows us to dedicate them to what matters most, while allowing us to have complete, seamless experiences.’

Here is a more relevant example: You decide to make a phone call while driving through heavy traffic. You fail to notice that the traffic light turned red, so you run the stop light and end up getting a traffic ticket.

The Science of Magic

Magic has finally emerged from the entertainment label and now investigates the perplexing area of mind study – perception. Our every day life is continually through episodes of inattentional blindness and change blindness. Namely, something happens in front of us but because our attention is elsewhere, we don’t register having seen it. When a change occurs gradually it is referred to as change blindness. If the change occurs abruptly, it’s called inattentional blindness.

Misdirection is a standard technique of the magician’s palette and demonstrates the perceptual rift between looking at something and attending to it. Commonly thought to be about speed (isn’t the hand quicker than the eye?) misdirection is actually more about leading us to focus only on a particular area. When a magician throws a ball into the air – and it vanishes – the trick works because the audience is following the magician’s gaze – not his hand. The magician has misdirected your gaze into following his and deploys a combination of intentional and change blindness.

Magic, which has exploited such aspects of the visual for centuries, offers us a framework to explore perception in an intriguing way and the potential for understanding our perceptual system by investigating how magic exploits its blindness and gaps is enormous. Adapting our perception to see the unseen could prove to be a huge benefit for us all.

References:

American Pharmacists Association. (April 1,2012). Intentional blindness: What captures your attention? Retrieved from https://www.pharmacist.com/inattentional-blindness-what-captures-your-attention

Barker, M. (April 30,2013). The science of magic: it’s not all hocus pocus. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/the-science-of-magic-its-not-all-hocus-pocus-13638#:~:text=When a magician throws a, magician’s gaze – not his hand

Carpenter, S. (April 2001). Sights unseen. Retrieved from https://apa.org

Cherry, K. (May 4, 2020). Inattentional blindness in psychology. Retrieved fromhttps://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-inattentional-blindness-2795020

 
 
 

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March was an unusual month for me.  Normally I work on articles, give presentations and generally just stay tuned to what is going on in the field of aging.  This month I “learned” a lot.  Last year I learned how to write a book.  At the time I took the course I thought it would just be a natural extension of all the writing I had done over the years.  WRONG!!  The actual writing of the book was the easy part.  Putting it together into a book was difficult for me.  The course gave me step by step lessons on constructing a book.  Then editing and formatting were just as challenging.  On June 7 last year the book was published!  It was one of the most satisfying days of my writing career. 

Naturally, when you self-publish, you do not have a publisher promoting the book and getting it in the right categories for best sales on Amazon.  That was crushing because I really didn’t know to appropriately market it.  I am a brain health person!  In December of last year, I purchased a marketing program that is based on statistics.  I am technical minded and so this approach made sense to me.  The course is almost completed.  Can’t wait to see if it improves sales!

The next step I am looking at is recording an audiobook.  This is another venture I knew nothing about.  But I am already tagged on Facebook for marketing of audio book programs.  Facebook picks up everything.  Now my husband was creative director for an advertising agency and when I told him I purchased another class – he couldn’t believe it.  “This was my business.  I know how to do recordings, why didn’t you ask me?” Well, I knew he was an expert in that business, but this audiobook needs to meet all the criteria that Amazon requires for publication.  So, he can take care of the recording part of this audiobook, and I will navigate the process of meeting Amazon’s requirements.  We worked on the book together like this. 

Then I talked with some coaching experts on the viability of starting group teaching programs.  Reading The Boomer Brain book and implementing the Brain Healthy Lifestyle have two entirely different outcomes.  This lifestyle is important to maintaining high cognitive function throughout the later years of our lives.  Look for updates as to when I will roll this program out.

My last learning endeavor was attending a two-day bootcamp for Speakers.  I am really excited about what I learned there.  That is a late this year or next year project, but it is one I am really looking forward to.

 

What Is Happening in April?

The American Society on Aging is having their annual conference in Orlando Florida April 21-24.  This is the largest multidisciplinary conference on aging and the annual conference for Members of ASA.  I have attended a number of these conferences throughout the years, and it is consequential.  Keynote speakers and special events are focused on combating ageism in our society.  Although this is a professional meeting, the attendees come from all aspects of aging services.  They have their work cut out for them this year!

April is Stress Awareness Month.  We should be aware of stress every month and understand how we can break the stress cycle.  These are stressful times, and we need to protect ourselves

Here is a positive one “April is National Volunteer Month”.  When I am working with new retirees who don’t know what to do, I talk to them about volunteering. It is important to have a purpose after you leave the workforce.  There are so many nonprofits who need help in all aspects of their organizations.  It is a perfect way to give back.

Finally – It was Opening Day for the Cincinnati Reds – the oldest major league team in the nation.  Cincinnati takes that responsibility seriously.  There is always an Opening Day Parade through downtown to the Ball Park.  Huge crowds line the streets and every year there is talk of making it an official holiday.  Schools and employers look the other way when there is an empty desk.  No matter what the outcome of the game is, there is so much joy, and you can feel that energy.  I am fortunate that I get to experience that.  We all need some joy right now. 

Enjoy your April.

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