Right Before Your Very Eyes
We like to think we are the most reliable witnesses to our own lives. We know where we put those keys. We remember exactly what someone said. And, certainly, if something odd happened in front of us, we’d notice. But then we lose the keys, forget what we’re saying, and those odd things happening…well, we missed ’em. Thought and observation experiments show that most of us should leave a lot more room for a second, or third, look.
Today’s Trivia Question
In a famous attention experiment, people watching a video of basketball passes failed to notice which unexpected visitor?
(pick one to reveal the answer)
Bonus if you know what the subjects of the experiment were asked to count.
| A Few More for Fun… |
Missing a single individual on a screen is understandable. What about real-world situations?
In another experiment, a stranger asked a pedestrian for directions. While they were speaking, workers carrying a door briefly passed between them. What happened behind the door?
(pick one to reveal the answer)
After seeing a fake advertisement, some study participants said they remembered or believed they’d met which character at Disneyland?
(pick one to reveal the answer)
| A Few More Trivia Questions Before You Go… |
People can overlook visitors, fail to detect when someone’s replaced, and even acquire fake memories. What other tricks can we pull on ourselves?
Science
History
In early twentieth-century Germany, a horse named Clever Hans became famous for doing arithmetic. What was the horse really responding to?
(pick one to reveal the answer)
Geography
Answers
| TODAY’S QUESTIONAnswer: B. A person in a gorilla suit. The two researchers conducting the experiment asked participants to concentrate on watching people pass basketballs in an open area in front of elevators. Many were so focused on the task, they missed a person in a gorilla suit walking through the scene. Does that ease the pain you feel when searching for the phone you’re holding? Bonus points if you knew they were asked to count the number of basketball passes made by one of the teams. They were so busy doing what they were told that they missed something outrageous. Paying sharp attention did help them to count, but it also helped them miss the bigger picture…or, more accurately, the bigger gorilla. | |
| 01 | Answer: B. A different person replaced the stranger. Some of the pedestrians kept on giving directions without noticing the person they were speaking to had changed. A lot of us have had conversations we might have enjoyed more with that door trick. |
| 02 | Answer: C. Bugs Bunny. You may already know the problem: Bugs Bunny is not a Disney character. Researchers testing suggestion in an advertisement learned they could influence people’s recollections, including accounts of their own childhood experiences. |
| 03 | Answer: B. Hear. Pair a recorded syllable with a video of a mouth saying something different, and viewers may “hear” a third sound. Our brains combine conflicting clues to create their own versions of events. So, your eyes can edit the work of your ears! |
| 04 | Answer: A. Tiny, unintended movement by the person asking the question. Hans tapped his hoof to give answers, and he knew how to read the people asking questions. They rarely recognized they were helping him, but he picked up on subtle cues and recognized when to stop. He was observant, not good at math. |
| 05 | Answer: C. Reno. It is easy to picture California far to the left of Nevada, but California’s angle toward the southeast makes Reno farther west. Our mental maps can trick us into ignoring locations on real ones. Don’t use any of this to begin doubting yourself or distrusting your observational skills. It does make “let me double-check” a better answer than “I’m absolutely sure.” Especially if the debate involves a map, a childhood memory, or a gorilla. |
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How did you do?
Score 1 point for each correct answer and 1 point for the bonus if you knew it. Perfect score: 7.
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