Saturday, July 9, 2011

Inattentional Blindness can be Bliss

 
This course has helped me immensely especially as I learned about the phenomenon of inattentional blindness, which is the failure to perceive stimulus that isn't attended, even if it is in full view.  I have walked through the halls of Stockton College or through the aisles of my local grocery store, and have experienced this phenomenon of inattentional blindness.  I was so focused on another object or completely lost in my own thoughts that I missed a friend waving to me in full view.  At a later time my friend addresses the issue as to why I did not respond with a friendly greeting.  The truth is that I did not see my friend, which can be difficult to explain especially when they reenact the scenario of both of us walking down the same hallway or aisle and she waves and smiles at me and I completely ignore the stimuli.  I was often concerned about my mental well-being after a situation like that occurred.  Was I entering a pre-Alzheimer state of mind?  Was I losing my mind?  No, I was just not focused on my friend in the midst of a plethora of stimuli occurring at that moment.  I was focused on getting to my next class or finding that jar of spaghetti sauce that my husband really enjoys.  So, needless to say I am relieved to discover that I am not at risk of any of the above mentioned, I was just experiencing inattentional blindness, which actually helps me to understand my teenage son who claims that he did not notice an overflowing trashcan in explaining why he did not empty the trashcan.  It’s not laziness its inattentional blindness. 

Watch the video below to see if you can count the correct number of passes the white team makes with the ball.


5 comments:

  1. This is nice that you brought this subject up. I believe racers get this and call it "tunnel vision". Or maybe everyone calls that? I dont know but none the less, alot of people get this. Its not uncommon that someone will get this regardless of their actions.

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  2. Almost everyone, I think, can share a story wherein they failed to notice something that was in plain view. A couple of people have mentioned to me that they saw me somewhere and waved or tried to get my attention, but I was "in my own world". As people who are constantly busy (at least I am), if we're not doing something we're thinking about what we have to do, so our attention is normally focused elsewhere or we're "mentally multi-tasking".

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  3. I suffer from this when I'm driving and begin to think about something other than the road or the other cars. I have to talk to myself about what I see on the road to keep focus or I will miss a stop or a red light.

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  4. Interesting post! I can't believe I missed the gorilla while counting 13 passes from the white team...

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  5. My intentional blindness isn't as bad as Tania's while driving but i can drive over an hour to somewhere and not remember a thing about the drive, nothing!

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