Selective Attention Test... Tested!

In Fridays lecture I found the selective attention test (that I blogged about on Saturday) very surprising, mainly due to the fact that I never saw the gorilla.

All weekend I kept quiet about it and tested a few of my friends and family. I was a little disappointed when they all spotted the gorilla. Why did I miss it and they didn't? I began to think that maybe the context it is shown in changes what you see.

I watched the video on a big screen in a lecture hall trying to focus and not let those around distract me from counting the passes. When I showed the video to people I knew, it was played on a laptop with only the viewer and I in a quiet room. Maybe if the viewer is relaxed and feels comfortable it is easier to take everything in, enabling them to see the gorilla.

I think this theory makes sense as when you are relaxed it is easier to have an open mind but when you are stressed or on edge you shut things out. It won't really matter if you're a positive person who tries to keep an open mind, certain situations may cause you to change and become overly focused and miss the bigger picture.

I do still agree with the fact that you should try to keep an open mind and if you feel unlucky you will most likely be unlucky. However I think that sometimes even if you try your best to see everything other factors may get in your way.

Keeping an Open Mind

In yesterdays Design Studies lecture we were told women can’t count! Well, Jonathon Baldwin said they can’t count as well as men. As a woman I was appalled and thought, “what about Carol Vorderman?” I don’t think she would have been happy with that statement. So to put this to the test we were asked to watch a video and count how many times the team in the white t-shirts pass the ball to each other. I was determined to get this right and beat the boys, so I got into the counting zone! Below I’ve posted the link to this video so you can try it, see if you can count. Please don’t read on until you’ve watched the video.





I can count because the count taught me!


So did you get it right? Did you see the gorilla? When Jonathon asked us this I was so confused, what gorilla?! He then played it back to us and I couldn’t believe I had missed something so obvious. He told us women couldn’t count just to get us focused and it worked. I was so focused I missed a dancing gorilla in the middle of the screen. The gorilla was all black the same colour as the other team and as I was only interested in those wearing white I filtered it out.

This is an important lesson not to be too focused on one thing as you will close off other opportunities that may be important. I can relate to this. Sometimes when I am trying to come up with a design idea I find it difficult, I can only thing of a couple of things and can’t get passed them. It’s only when I relax and go back to doing more research that everything becomes clear and my design ideas improve. When you are too focused you don’t help yourself in work and in your everyday life, you need to take the time to lift your head up and look around. This is also why unlucky people are always unlucky. They are too closed off and pessimistic that they don’t recognise or see when a good opportunity comes along.



So the moral of the story is, be positive, be alert and keep an open mind. That way hopefully the amazing opportunities this world has to offer won’t pass you by.