Selective Attention Test.

[Uncle Joe]

Last edited Fri Jul 4, 2014, 10:32 PM - Edit history (1)

Please don't scroll down and read the replies, take the test first.

[Ash_F]

1. hmmmm

Last edited Sat Jul 5, 2014, 03:24 PM - Edit history (2)

I saw the gorilla but counted 12 passes


Edited for spoilers.

[AAO]

16. I counted fifteen and I saw the gorilla. Do I get some kind of prize?

[Fred Sanders]

24. The test is meant to be taken in a group, with a reward for the correct or best answer. The

competitive angle in real time creates greater concentration, and there is no hint in the instructions that there is something up.

[Hissyspit]

2. This one is funnier:

[Uncle Joe]

3. That was a good one Hissyspit.

[DhhD]

8. Another good awareness tests is knowing what 30 secondary students are doing at the same time all

class period long and for 6 or 7 periods a day. You guessed it; a teacher can do it all while giving notes to the class.

[pam4water]

4. I

Last edited Fri Jul 4, 2014, 11:13 PM - Edit history (1)

counted 15 and saw the gorilla, but what dose that mean?

[Uncle Joe]

5. It means you have good awareness, I imagine many people including myself

missed the gorilla.

Of course clicking on this thread and seeing the first post before taking the test would know to look for it, although I'm not implying that you saw the first post.

[pam4water]

6. Is this like that test were they quickly show you cards that are clubs, but in the color red?

And say most people miss it because they are expect the club to be black? I remember that for a course a long time ago.

[Uncle Joe]

7. I imagine that would be related along the same lines. n/t

[RufusTFirefly]

10. If I'm not mistaken, that's a variation of what's called the Stroop test

Most of the operations of our brain are automatic and unconscious, including our knowledge that a club is black. When a club is red instead, the anterior cingulate cortex, the brain's error detector, signals that something is not right. Suddenly the way in which you process the information shifts from automatic to conscious, which takes a lot more time. And if more time is not an option, you're liable to make the wrong choice.

[RufusTFirefly]

9. Inattentional blindness is a mixed blessing, Uncle Joe

On the one hand, it means you "failed" Chabris and Simon's test.
On the other hand, it means you're capable of focusing intently on the task at hand and eliminating extraneous details.
In many -- if not most -- circumstances, that's a valuable skill.
The Alerting or Arousal Network (which runs on noradrenaline) is evolutionarily designed to ensure our survival.
Of course, had the gorilla been real -- it wasn't -- and in your house instead of on a YouTube -- once again, it wasn't -- then you'd be toast. But I think it's safe to say that when you're explicitly asked to focus on counting basketball passes, a person dressed in an unconvincing gorilla suit on a YouTube video is the epitome of an extraneous detail.

I enjoy their test (it's quite famous), but I question their conclusions.

[pam4water]

11. Thanks for the explanation. Might be a light version of field depend and field independent.

Dang this turned my brain on and I was so happy with it off Seems like presented with enough visual stimulation everyone will eventually have to drop some of what is going on. So you wont get a good indication of who drops what until for an individual until you over load them.

[RufusTFirefly]

12. You're welcome. Perhaps.

I've read some fascinating studies about cultural differences regarding detection in changes of a picture's foreground or background.

Regarding your second point, as far as I know, we ignore the vast majority of our external stimuli, mainly through habituation. We'd probably explode if everything within the realm of our awareness registered in our working memory. After all, the prefrontal cortex (comparatively speaking) is a teeny tiny place.

[Uncle Joe]

13. Thanks, RufusTFirefly, I feel better about that now.

Peace to you.

[RufusTFirefly]

14. No worries.

"Now go, and never darken my towels again!"

[Uncle Joe]

15. Of course.

[AAO]

17. Not possible to argue with sound logic

[RufusTFirefly]

18. Why, even a four-year-old child could understand it!

Run out and find me a four-year-old child. I can't make head or tail of it.

[AAO]

19. I had 2 4 yr old children, and they even understand

[hedda_foil]

20. I missed one pass, but I saw the gorilla almost immediately, so that's likely the reason I missed on

Gotta love the gorilla even if he's not a great passer.

[Uncle Joe]

21. Gorillas can be your friend.

[nolabels]

22. The answer is *16*

At time on the Video of :30 the woman in white with tied up hair makes a touch pass with one hand to her other partner in white

[TlalocW]

23. There was actually a real world example of this during the Olympics

And you probably remember it.

Coca-Cola put out a video of, "America the Beautiful," being sung by Americans in different languages. Remember how conservatives blew up over that? What I found surprising though is that it took a long time for them to also realize that among the different people the commercial was showing were a male gay couple and their daughter.

I sent a few conservatives even further over the edge by pointing that out on some of their message boards. Their rage over non-English languages completely blinded them to it. Some even argued with me that they didn't see that, and I was lying.

TlalocW

[Spitfire of ATJ]

25. This one is better....

[Uncle Joe]

26. It would have been easier to spot if she had been eating a tub of ice cream.

[mucifer]

27. I totally missed the gorilla

[Uncle Joe]

28. So did I, mucifer but according to RufusTFirefly's post #9 that's a mixed blessing. n/t