Cognitive area: Simons and Chabris Flashcards
What was the key theme of Simons and Chabris’ research?
Visual inattention
What is inattentional blindness?
The failure to see an event or object in your field of vision because you are so focussed on other elements of what you can see
What two types of research do S and C refer to that have previously investigated inattentional blindness?
Computer based dynamic displays and video based dynamic events
What are computer based dynamic displays?
A visual equivalent to Moray’s work, P’s were asked to judge line lengths that made up crosses and data was collected on whether P’s would miss ‘unexpected events’ such as a smiley face
Who conducted the computer based dynamic display research?
Mack and Rock
What are video based dynamic events?
Known as ‘selective looking’, research investigated inattentional blindness using a more realistic event (a basketball match between 6 players) which were superimposed on each other and data was collected on whether P’s would notice a woman walking through the match with an umbrella
Who conducted the previous research on inattentional blindness whereby a video based dynamic event was used?
Neisser
Why did Mack and Rock and Neisser’s studies lack ecological validity?
Because people do not normally judge the lengths of lines in everyday life and because the videos were superimposed on each other
How/why was Neisser’s ask an example of sustained inattentional blindness?
Because the unexpected event was 4 seconds long
What did Simons and Chabris want to confirm with their research?
That inattentional blindness occurs in a realistic complex situation (ie where the unexpected event lasts for 5 seconds or more, but is nonetheless unnoticed by observers)
What other 4 variables did S and C want to test?
Whether colour of unexpected event would have an effect on inattentional blindness
Whether a particularly unusual event would be detected
Whether a more difficult task would increase inattentional blindness
Whether a more realistic video would give different findings to Neisser’s research
What research method did S and C use?
Lab experiment
What experimental design did S and C use and justify this
Independent measures as each P was only tested in 1 condition
Describe the sample
228 P’s, almost all of whom were students
What rewards were P’s offered for taking part?
A single payment or a large candy bar
Describe some of the controls used in each of the video clips
Same actors, time of day and location
2 teams of 3 players
Standard basketball
What was the standard pass order of the ball?
1 > 2 > 3
What was the size of the area used for the video clips?
3 x 5m
At what time in the video did the unexpected event occur?
Between 44 and 48 seconds
What were the 4 IV’s?
The construction of the video, what the P’s focussed on, difficulty of task and the unexpected event that occurred
What were the 2 conditions for the construction of the video?
Transparent or opaque
What were the 2 conditions for what the P’s focussed on?
Black or white
What were the 2 conditions for the difficulty of the task?
Easy or hard
What were the 2 conditions for the unexpected event that occurred?
Umbrella woman or gorilla
Were the participants tested individually or in groups?
Individually
What instructions were P’s given before viewing the clip?
Pay attention to either the white or black team
Whilst watching the video how did P’s keep score of the passes?
They took a mental note
What were P’s asked to count in the hard task?
The number of aerial and bounce passes
What were the 3 questions P’s were asked after watching the clip?
i) While you were doing the counting, did you notice anything unusual in the video?
ii) Did you notice anything other than the 6 players?
iii) Did you see a gorilla/woman carrying an umbrella walk across the screen?
If P’s answered ‘yes’ to any of the follow up questions, what were they asked to do?
To provide details of what they had seen
What happened to the questions if P’s mentioned the unexpected event at any point?
The rest of the questions weren’t asked
How did researchers stick to ethical guidelines at the end of the procedure?
P’s were given a full debrief
What was the overall level of inattentional blindness?
46%
Why was data from 36 P’s removed from the set?
They had seen a similar video before
They had lost count
They had made an inaccurate count of passes
From the results, how could it be explained that P’s were more likely to notice the unexpected event while watching the opaque video?
Because the opaque video was more realistic than the transparent video
Were P’s more likely to notice the unexpected event when the task was easy or hard and why?
More likely to notice the event in the easy task because it required less focus
Were P’s more likely to notice the umbrella woman or the gorilla?
More likely to notice the umbrella woman as the umbrella made her taller than the other players and was more unusual
Did S and C adhere to ethical guidelines?
Yes
Was the procedure standardised and replicable (internal reliability)?
Yes - high level controls (e.g. time of unexpected event, same location, standard pass order)
Was the sample large enough to suggest a consistent effect (external reliability)?
Yes - 192 is a good sample size which showed consistency for inattentional blindness
Was it an accurate test of inattentional blindness? (construct validity)
Was a highly controlled lab experiment so there may have been potential demand characteristics
Can the sample be generalised from? (population validity)
Not necessarily - only undergrad students and all had volunteered
Was the scenario true to life? (ecological validity)
The actual event lacks ecological validity however, the use of an opaque video makes it more valid
Why can S and C’s results be argued to have high concurrent validity?
Because the results concur with Neisser’s study
In what way can S and C’s study be argued to be ethnocentric?
All P’s were American students, however, we all have the same brain structure so we would expect the same results in other cultures
What did S and C conclude?
That objects can pass through our central field of vision and still not be seen if they are not specifically attended to
