Perception Test

[Diplo]

Michael Shermer is the founder/publisher of Skeptic Magazine, and author of several books, including 'Why People Believe Weird Things'.

The main part of the video explores the topic of perceptual blindness, with a demonstration for the crowd.

Watch YouTube video

Michael Shermer at TED Talk 2005 video

This was pretty amazing for me. Watch the short video he shows at around 3:00 and follow the instructions and concentrate and count the passes. Then view the results. If you were like me you will be in for a big surprise!

PLEASE DON'T SPOIL THIS FOR ANYONE ELSE - Thanks

 

[Skrying]

Nope, didn't get me at all.....

 

[t0y]

Totally got me... I wanted to post some more, but I won't spoil it for anyone.
Nevertheless, the whole video is interesting.

 

[Sxotty]

I didn't have any sound so I have no idea Maybe I will watch it later again.

 

[Babel-17]

"Got me" though I take exception to the experiments premise.

Target fixation can be a liability but in this case the point is moot imo.

Had the stated task been truly important, counting bogeys for example, then being distracted by an impressive cloud formation (It's Elvis!) would be disastrous.

Knowing when to focus and to what degree to do so is important, true. But this experiment didn't go to that.

Very good link though, thank you.

 

[Bigus Dickus]

Michael Shermer is terrific... love the magazine, the mini-book, and his columns.

 

[Fred]

Lol it got me. M Shermer.

 

[rabidrabbit]

Got me too, that was fun

 

[ChrisRay]

I didnt see it either. But I admit he's right. I was only looking for one thing expecting to be fooled by it.

 

[Mintmaster]

My family never ceases to remind me how absent-minded I am, and I totally block everything when I'm concentrated on something. Don't know whether it's a curse or a blessing, but I prefer to believe it's the latter.

Anyway, even I didn't miss something as obvious as that! What's the matter with you people?

 

[Skrying]

Anyway, even I didn't miss something as obvious as that! What's the matter with you people?

No kidding! I saw it clear as day.

I'm curious though what those who didn't see its count was and those who did see it was!

 

[MfA]

It's not a race. You can notice cause you are "lucky", you can not notice because you are "unlucky". I'd hazard a guess that the smaller you watch the video the more likely you are to notice too.

 

[Bigus Dickus]

I counted 21 passes, but a few were difficult to tell at the framerate and compression used in the video (well, video of the video, wasn't it?).

 

[t0y]

18 here. My brother was confused and thought the ball was being passed between the blacks and whites so he only caught 13.
And neither of us caught anything unusual.

 

[epicstruggle]

I saw it, my dad didnt catch it though.

 

[zed]

i missed it (not surprising since in my nature i do tend to focus on a single thing )
tried it on my gf later + she saw it straight away
nice but still not as impressive as some of the eyesight tricks around

I'd hazard a guess that the smaller you watch the video the more likely you are to notice too

yes i believe thats important, i was watching at ~30cms but my gf watched at ~2m. watching a smaller area lets u see the overall picture better

 

[Nesh]

i missed it (not surprising since in my nature i do tend to focus on a single thing )
tried it on my gf later + she saw it straight away
nice but still not as impressive as some of the eyesight tricks around

yes i believe thats important, i was watching at ~30cms but my gf watched at ~2m. watching a smaller area lets u see the overall picture better

I think this could be due to differences between a woman's brain and a man's. Women tend to have a more "landscape" view of an area while men were built to concentrate on spots.

 

[pcchen]

I saw that video before, so I see it and, well, lost count at the same time.
By the way, I think the song near the end is quite cool

 

[mondoterrifico]

I think this could be due to differences between a woman's brain and a man's. Women tend to have a more "landscape" view of an area while men were built to concentrate on spots.

In the video he clearly states that there are no gender differences in the test results, and that he said this to prime the viewers expectations.
Showed this to 4 people so far, 2 women 2 men and all failed to see the gorilla.

Edit, I guess your claim isn't specific to this video so ignore my comment.

 

[DudeMiester]

Damn thing made me lose count!