What does it mean if you see the gorilla?
In their new book The Invisible Gorilla, Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons explain how our brains trick us into thinking we see and know far more than we actually do. The phrase, “the invisible gorilla,” comes from an experiment created 10 years ago to test selective attention.
What is the invisible gorilla experiment?
The so-called “invisible gorilla” test had volunteers watching a video where two groups of people — some dressed in white, some in black — are passing basketballs around. The volunteers were asked to count the passes among players dressed in white while ignoring the passes of those in black.
What do you think the invisible gorilla experiment reveals to us about perception?
This experiment reveals two things: that we are missing a lot of what goes on around us, and that we have no idea that we are missing so much. To our surprise, it has become one of the best-known experiments in psychology.
What is Inattentional amnesia?
In essence, inattentional amnesia refers to the failure in creating a lasting explicit memory: by the time a subject is asked to recall seeing an item, their memory for the stimulus has vanished.
How do you test for selective attention?
Selective attention is typically measured by instructing participants to join some sources of information, but to ignore others at the same time and then determine their effectiveness in doing so.
What is the selective attention theory?
Selective attention theories have suggested that individuals have a tendency to orient themselves toward, or process information from only one part of the environment with the exclusion of other parts. There is an abundant amount of evidence which supports that selective attention is governed by our arousal level.
What conclusion can be drawn from the study of the invisible gorilla?
What conclusions can be drawn from the study of the Invisible Gorilla? Psychology is marked by diversity and divisiveness.
What is cognitive tunneling?
a psychological state, typical of people concentrating on a demanding task or operating under conditions of stress, in which a single, narrowly defined category of information is attended to and processed.
What is blindsight in psychology?
Summary: Blindsight is a phenomenon in which patients with damage in the primary visual cortex of the brain can tell where an object is although they claim they cannot see it. Scientists now provide compelling evidence that blindsight occurs because visual information is conveyed bypassing the primary visual cortex.
What are some real life examples of selective attention?
Here are some everyday examples of selective attention:
- Listening to your favorite podcast while driving to work.
- Having a conversation with a friend in a crowded place.
- Reading your book on a public transport bus.
What is alternating attention?
Alternating attention refers to the ability to switch between tasks; to stop one task to participate in another and then be able to return to the initial task.
What are the 3 types of attention?
Types of Attention
- Arousal: Refers to our activation level and level of alertness, whether we are tired or energized.
- Focused Attention: Refers to our ability to focus attention on a stimulus.
- Sustained Attention: The ability to attend to a stimulus or activity over a long period of time.
