Expecting the Unexpected Does Not Improve One's Chances of Seeing It

[Dave (imported)]

>>I actually counted the correct number of transfers but there was something else going on in the youtube video that I missed.

>>I won't say what happens in the video but this is a delightful exercise.

>>It's worth trying just once to see how you do.

>>

Expecting the Unexpected Does Not Improve One's Chances of Seeing It

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 103341.htm

ScienceDaily (July 12, 2010) — A new study finds that those who know that an unexpected event is likely to occur are no better at noticing other unexpected events -- and may be even worse -- than those who aren't expecting the unexpected.

The study, from Daniel Simons, a professor of psychology and in the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois, appears this month as the inaugural paper in the new open access journal i-Perception. (www.perceptionweb.com/i-perception)

The study used a new video based on one used in a now-famous experiment conducted in the late 1990s by Simons and his collaborator, Christopher Chabris, now a psychology professor at Union College in New York. In the original video, two groups of people -- some dressed in white, some in black -- are passing basketballs back and forth. The study subjects were asked to count the passes among those dressed in white while ignoring the passes of those in black.

(To test your own skill at this task, stop reading and visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo.)

Simons and Chabris found that many of those who viewed the video failed to notice when a person in a gorilla suit walked into the game, faced the camera, pounded on its chest and then sauntered out of view. The gorilla was on screen for nearly nine seconds, yet half of those who watched the video didn't see it.

This finding was a particularly dramatic example of "inattentional blindness," the failure to see something obvious when focusing attention on something else.

The video is now so well known that many people know to look for a gorilla whenever they are asked to count basketball passes. Simons decided to use its notoriety to his advantage. He created a similar video, again with teams of white- and black-clothed players, the same rules and a chest-thumping gorilla. (Before reading further, try the task for yourself by visiting www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY.)

Simons wanted to see if those who knew about the gorilla before viewing the video would be more or less likely to notice other unexpected events in the same video.

"You can make two competing predictions," Simons said. "Knowing about the invisible gorilla might increase your chances of noticing other unexpected events because you know that the task tests whether people spot unexpected events. You might look for other events because you know that the experimenter is up to something." Alternatively, "knowing about the gorilla might lead viewers to look for gorillas exclusively, and when they find one, they might fail to notice anything else out of the ordinary."

As in the earlier experiment, of those who had never seen or heard about the gorilla video, about half missed the gorilla in the new video. Those who knew about the original gorilla video all spotted the gorilla in this experiment. However, knowing about the gorilla beforehand did not improve the detection of other unexpected events. Only 17 percent of those who were familiar with the original gorilla video noticed one or both of the other unexpected events, while 29 percent of those who were unfamiliar with the original gorilla video spotted one of the other events.

This difference between the "familiar" and "unfamiliar" viewers of the video is not statistically significant, Simons said, but the study does demonstrate that being primed to the possibility of unexpected events does not enhance one's ability to notice other unexpected events.

"The main finding is that knowing that unexpected events might occur doesn't prevent you from missing unexpected events," Simons said. "People who are familiar with the purpose and conclusions of the original study -- that people can miss obvious events when focused on something else -- still miss other obvious events in exactly that same context. Even when they know that the experimenter is going to fool them, they can miss something that's obvious, something that they could spot perfectly well if they knew it was there."

The video itself, called "The Monkey Business Illusion," was a finalist in the Neural Correlate Society's Best Illusion of the Year contest in May, where Simons donned a gorilla suit and presented the new video himself. (You can view his presentation at www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWeUhRXohME.)

Most of the vision scientists in the audience knew about the original gorilla video, and yet most still missed one or both of the other unexpected events in the video.

Simons is the co-author, with Chabris, of "The Invisible Gorilla, And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us," a new book that focuses on common -- and yet false -- intuitions about how our minds work that often are wrong. Visit www.theinvisiblegorilla.com for more information about the book and other videos demonstrating the limits of visual awareness.

[Riverwind (imported)]

OK I watched this video with my son, we both counted 15 passes and we both said at the same time, where did the gorilla come from.

So did we pass or fail?

River

[Dave (imported)]

I watched the second video and it had 16 passes which I got BUT i missed the gorilla and the color changing curtains in the background. If I focus on counting the passes then I seem not to see the gorilla. It's going to be different depending on how you focus on things.

It's a fascinating observation that expecting the gorilla still doesn't make him visible.

I missed the gorilla completely. But I got the count right.

In that second video, the background changes color from red to orange or yellow and I missed that too.

How could I have missed something that obvious? I'm more attentive than that!

[Riverwind (imported)]

You homed in on the passing of the basketball and ignored everything else, maybe because I was an analysts that I was able to catch it, it was my job to look at everything and leave nothing unseen.

River

[colin (imported)]

I watched the second video and it had 16 passes which I got BUT i missed the gorilla and the color changing curtains in the background. If I focus on counting the passes then I seem not to see the gorilla. It's going to be different depending on how you focus on things.

It's a fascinating observation that expecting the gorilla still doesn't make him visible.

I missed the gorilla completely. But I got the count right.

In that second video, the background changes color from red to orange or yellow and I missed that too.

How could I have missed something that obvious? I'm more attentive than that!

You also forgot to mention that one of the players dressed in black leaves the screen.

Actually, I got the count right and saw the gorilla both times but entirely missed the player leaving and the change of colour in the second clip. I found it hard enough to watch the players in white and tune out the ones in black so it is not surprising.

I was half expecting Paolo in his Darth Vader suit - or perhaps the Red Nun!

[Losethem (imported)]

Perhaps we could re-do this experiment by passing the basketballs around and then opening a curtain to show a guy getting castrated in the background?

If they missed the gorilla, surely they would see that?

[Glasgow_kiss (imported)]

Both times when I done it the video got me. It brings a whole new meaning to the term "men only have a one track mind"!

[Buddy666 (imported)]

Everybody in my house tried and my wife and I counted 15 and I heard some 14s and 16s and everybody saw the gorilla, but most did not see him beat his chest. I saw everything the 1st time, but all the links were non-functional. I had to go to www.invisiblegorilla.com and I saw the video with the elevators.

[I Worship Women (imported)]

Similar to something I saw written years ago. It was the following statement.

Paris in the the spring.

I am told the first time people read this more than half miss the second "the".

[punkypink (imported)]

I saw the gorilla, I missed a pass because I got distracted by the gorilla for a sec.

I noticed the curtain changing colour, because that was an obvious change.

Did not notice the black player leaving, but only because she slipped off in an unobtrusive manner. I think missing that player slipping off who basically ran behind the gorilla to do so, is quite understandable. I certainly noticed the background changing colour though.

But then again, this isn't surprising at all. There have been other tests done on this subject matter. Normally I wouldn't recommend cracked.com as a reliable source of scientific matter, but in this case they do provide some interesting links to videos of such studies done.

http://www.cracked.com/article_17103_5- ... -head.html

Have a look, its very interesting just what people miss.