SHORT AND SWEET

Monkeying around with the gorillas in our midst: familiarity with an inattentional-blindness task does not improve the detection of unexpected events

Daniel J Simons

Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, 603 E Daniel Street, Champaign, IL 61820, USA

dsimons@illinois.edu

 
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Abstract. When people know to look for an unexpected event (eg, a gorilla in a basketball game), they tend to notice that event. But does knowledge that an unexpected event might occur improve the detection of other unexpected events in a similar scene? Subjects watched a new version of an earlier video in which, in addition to the gorilla, two other unexpected events occurred: a curtain changed color, and one player left the scene. Subjects who knew about the earlier video consistently spotted the gorilla in the new video, but they were slightly less likely to notice the other events. Foreknowledge that unexpected events might occur does not enhance the ability to detect other such events.


Cite as: Simons D J, 2010, "Monkeying around with the gorillas in our midst: familiarity with an inattentional-blindness task does not improve the detection of unexpected events" i-Perception 1(1) 3–6
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History: 1 May 2010; published online 12 July 2010

DOI: 10.1068/i0386

ISSN: 2041-6695 (electronic only)

Copyright: Copyright is retained by the author(s) of this article. This open-access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Licence, which permits noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction, provided the original author(s) and source are credited and no alterations are made.
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