Cognitive: Simons and Chabris on Visual Inattention

Question 1

key theme

Answer 1

attention

Question 2

context: change blindness

Answer 2

individuals do not often detect large changes to objects and scenes from one view to the next, particularly if those objects are not the centre of attention

Question 3

context: inattentional blindness

Answer 3

when attention is diverted to another object or task observers often fail to perceive an unexpected object

Question 4

context: visually demanding tasks

Answer 4

they ‘load’ the brain’s attention so an individual becomes increasingly blind to distraction and their performance improves

Question 5

aim

Answer 5

investigate factors that may affect visual detection rates

Question 6

the 4 factors being investigated in aim

Answer 6

1. the visual similarity of unexpected object and attended ones
2. task difficulty
3. the live version of the display or the superimposed (laying one thing on top of the other) version
4. nature of unusual event

Question 7

method: design

Answer 7

laboratory experiment
independent measures

Question 8

4 IVs

Answer 8

1. Transparent/ Umbrella woman condition
2. Transparent/ Gorilla condition
3. Opaque/ Umbrella woman condition
4. Opaque/ Gorilla condition

Question 9

4 task conditions

Answer 9

1. White/ Easy
2. White/ Hard
3. Black/ Easy
4. Black/ Hard

Question 10

16 conditions all together

Answer 10

1. Transparent/ Umbrella woman condition- white/easy
2. Transparent/ Umbrella woman condition- white/hard
3. Transparent/ Umbrella woman condition- black/easy
4. Transparent/ Umbrella woman condition- black/hard
5. Transparent/ Gorilla condition- white/easy
6. Transparent/ Gorilla condition- white/hard
7. Transparent/ Gorilla condition- black/easy
8. Transparent/ Gorilla condition- black/hard
9. Opaque/ Umbrella woman condition- white/easy
10. Opaque/ Umbrella woman condition- white/hard
11. Opaque/ Umbrella woman condition- black/easy
12. Opaque/ Umbrella woman condition- black/hard
13. Opaque/ Gorilla condition- white/easy
14. Opaque/ Gorilla condition- white/hard
15. Opaque/ Gorilla condition- black/easy
16. Opaque/ Gorilla condition- black/hard

Question 11

DV

Answer 11

number of ptcpts in each of the 16 conditions who noticed the unexpected event

Question 12

materials
6 points

Answer 12

1. 4 video tapes, 75 seconds each
2. Two teams of three players, one team wearing white shirts, the other black shirts.
3. 1 to 2 to 3 back to 1 order of passing the ball. 4. Passes were either bounce or aerial.
4. After 44-48 seconds of action either of two unexpected events occurred
5. There were two styles of video: transparent (2 teams of actors superimposed) or opaque (all actors filmed at same time)

Question 13

sample

Answer 13

1. self-selected of American undergraduates
2. 228 ptcpts as the ‘observers’
3. compensation through a small fee or candy bar
4. data from 36 ptcpts discarded because they knew about the study previously or had guessed the age
5. only 192 ptcpts data used

Question 14

procedure

Answer 14

1. All ptcpts were tested individually and gave informed consent in advance.
2. Ptcpts told they would be watching two teams passing basketballs and that they should pay attention to either the team in white or black
3. Told to keep either a silent mental count of the total number of passes made by the attended team (Easy condition) or total number of bounce passes and aerial passes made by the attended team (Hard condition).
4. After viewing the video ptcpts were immediately asked to write down their count(s) on paper.
5. Then asked additional qs to determine whether unexpected event was noticed:
   (i) Did you notice anything unusual in the video?
   (ii) Did you notice anything other than the six players?
   (iii) Did you see anyone else?
   (iv) Did you see a gorilla/woman carrying an umbrella walk across the screen?
6. After any “yes” responses, ptcpts were asked to provide details of what they noticed. If at any point a participant mentioned the unexpected event, the remaining questions skipped.
   7.After questioning, participants were asked if they had previously participated in a similar experiment, heard of such an experiment or heard of the general phenomenon and if said “yes” their data was discarded.
7. Ptcpts debriefed; this included replaying the video tape on request.

Question 15

results

Answer 15

1. Out of all 192 ptcpts 54% noticed the unexpected event and 46% failed to notice the unexpected event.
2. More ptcpts noticed the unexpected event in the Opaque condition than the Transparent condition.
3. More ptcpts noticed the unexpected event in the Easy (64%) than the Hard (45%) condition.
4. The Umbrella Woman was noticed more often than the Gorilla overall.
5. The Gorilla was noticed by more participants who attended to the actions of the Black team than those who watched the White team (Black 58%, White 27%, per condition).