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I recently came across a video that is absolutely fantastic. It’s called the Invisible Gorilla. It’s a test of attention and illustrates something called Change Blindness. If you think you are an observant person, these videos may change your mind. I’m going to share a few videos, so if you are reading this in an email or RSS reader, you’ll want to click through to the site to view the amazing videos.
Here is the first called The Selective Attention Test.
Watch the video and then we’ll see how you did? According to Daniel Simons only about 50% of the people pass this test. I find this amazing. The first time I saw this video, I already had read about it, so I knew what to expect. Happily he posted another video also.
In this video called The Monkey Business Illusion, he expects you to be on the lookout for changes. Watch this one and see how you do.
How did you do? Be sure to tell me in the comments. I was able to see the gorilla and one of the other changes, but I missed one change.
I consider myself to be rather observant, and I must say it really irritates me to have missed anything. I have even practiced becoming more observant by mentally reminding myself to pay attention and see things I might not normally see. I practice this from time to time. Sometimes I’ll do it while driving to work, or maybe while walking in the park, or even when sitting outside my house. So when I miss things and I’m really trying to see them, that is most irksome.
Even though it’s irksome, it’s actually pretty normal. Like I said earlier, about 50% of the people miss the change. I find this absolutely fascinating. Why is it that we miss things so easily? The concept behind this is called Change Blindness. It’s actually the same concept behind sleight of hand, but seeing it in videos like these bring that concept to a whole new level.
Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons are the creators behind these videos. The have recently published a book called The Invisible Gorilla. In the book they use a variety of stories and counterintuitive scientific findings to reveal an important truth: Our minds don’t work the way we think they do. Judging by the videos, I’m going to have to agree with that statement.
The really eye-opening part of all this is that this Change Blindness has real world consequences. Imagine making a turn at an intersection, and while looking for cars you miss seeing a pedestrian, bicycle, or motorcycle. Imagine convicting someone of a crime you witnessed based on the fact that you knew it was them, and later through DNA testing you find out it wasn’t. These are just a couple of examples. The book, The Invisible Gorilla, is full of many more.
I want to share one more video with you. It’s from a Ted Talk on Counter Intuition by Daniel Simons.
I am completely amazed at all this. I’m going to have to pick up the book. If you’d like to order the book, you can order it from Amazon here: The Invisible Gorilla
Be sure to check out the follow-up to this post on Being Observant.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
That was pretty crazy. I consider myself to be average when it comes to PHYSICAL awareness. I counted the balls correctly both times but failed to see the gorilla. On the second video, I didn’t catch the curtain change either. I was dead-set on counting the balls but tuned everything else out. On the second video, I was actually looking for the gorilla and still didn’t see it.
I think this has much to do with our focus and focus in general. Like a camera that focuses in on something but blurs the remaining surrounding out. Or, someone focused on their goal and don’t see the opportunities in front of them. But, still you would think that a gorilla would not slip your view.
This is a fascinating exercise. Thanks for sharing!
.-= S. Ali Myers – Soulful Body & Mind´s last blog ..3 Amazing Things Youd Have to See to Believe =-.
Ali, I agree, that’s crazy stuff. I have a follow up post that will go up tomorrow or Monday, and I’ll talk about some of the things I learned from these videos.
Hi Eric,
Those videos were fun to watch! I counted 12 in the first and did see the gorilla and counted 13 in the second and also saw the gorilla, but didn’t catch the curtain color change. I couldn’t see the last video because my laptop is like from WWII and just can’t keep up with videos longer than 2 minutes!
Very interesting and creepy by the examples you mention of what could happen in certain situation, the dangers involved when we miss something that happened to be very important (like the pedestrian)
I guess it comes down to the same element of living more intensely the now, which would allow us to experience and perceive more of our surroundings, than keeping the eyes in “automatic” just to walk without fall so we can use our brain in other stuff at the same time. To be honest, it scares me when I see people driving in a busy street while happily talking on the cell phone.
Great video to call for better awareness, Thank you!
Raul
.-= Alien Ghost´s last blog ..Blogging and Telepathy =-.
Raul,
In the second video I noticed the gorilla and the person leaving the game, but completely missed the curtain color change. I wonder if gradual changes like that are even harder to notice. I saw another video with a very gradual change, and even after I learned what the change was, it was still very hard to see.
Wow, a WWII laptop might be worth taking to Antique Roadshow.
Talking on the cell phone while driving is a good concern to be raised from this, as the phone definitely draws attention away from other things. As we can now readily see, that can cause us to miss some very obvious things.
Eric,
Very interesting, in first two videos I counted passes but they were incorrect, lesser than actual numbers but I saw gorillas both time, what does that mean? I am not sure, but I guess I am not as observant with details as thought. Thank you for posting this unique learning ways.
Preeti, that is super that you saw the gorillas. I’m not sure if the miscount means anything or not. Maybe you got distracted by the gorillas.
Anyway, I think it’s really cool that you saw the gorillas.
Eric,
Yeah, maybe I sure did, Gorilla sure was good looking in costume
.-= Preeti @ Heart and Mind´s last blog ..10 Life lessons that I wished I had learned earlier – Part 2 =-.
I missed the curtain changing color! but otherwise did very well…I can see why this is such a great post – attractive post…Well done.
I have to be careful when I drive in crowded areas…I have a hard time seeing pedestrians and then when I do judging how they are moving through the crosswalk. I often get honked at because I am too careful! I would rather be safe than sorry.
Great post
Patricia´s last [type] ..Cherry On Top Award
Great job! I’m still amazed that we can completely miss things that are right in front of our faces.
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