Simons & Chabris Flashcards
What was the aim of Simons and Chabris Experiment?
To confirm that inattentional blindness occurs in realistic situations
What is inattentional blindness?
The failure to see an event or object in your field of vision because you’re focused on other elements of what you can see
What was the procedure of the original research?
This was known as the cross study. Ppt’s had to judge which of the two arms of the crosses shown were the longest.
They then presented a smiley face and ppt’s were asked whether they saw it or not - this was the unexpected event.
What was the procedure of Simons and Chabris experiment?
Ppt’s were asked to watch either the black or white team. 44-48 seconds into the team passing the ball to each other an ‘unexpected event’ occurred.
This was either a woman carrying an open umbrella or a black gorilla.
Ppt’s were asked to report whether they saw this or not.
What was the sample of this experiment?
There were 192 ppt’s
They were researchers from Harvard University
How was the sample selected?
Some volunteered
Some were rewarded a large bar of candy
Some were rewarded a small payment
Video details
75 seconds long —> after 44-48 seconds the unexpected event occurred
What were the 4 conditions?
Transparent umbrella
Transparent gorilla
Opaque umbrella
Opaque gorilla
*the umbrella seemed to be more noticeable
What were the two video conditions?
Transparent or opaque
What was the findings of the two video conditions?
You are more likely to see the unexpected event if you are watching the opaque video than the transparent
What were the task conditions?
Easy task = count the number of passes
Hard task = count the number of aerial and bounce passes
What were the findings of the task condition?
You were more likely to see the unexpected event in the easy task than the hard task.
What were the team conditions?
Black team
White team
What were the findings of the team conditions?
If you were in the black team and watching the gorilla you were more likely to see the unexpected event than those who were asked to focus on the white team
How many videos in all?
4
