Michael Shermer on Science and Perceptual Blindness.

Posted by Alex in Science & Tech, Video Clips on December 4, 2006 at 4:59 pm


This is a clip from a talk at TED (Technology, Entertainment, design) given by Michael Shermer [wiki], the founder of Skeptic Magazine. At around 3 minutes mark, he showed a clip about perceptual blindness (the basketball pass experiment) and even a clip from Katie Melua [wiki].

It’s worth watching: Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – Thanks Sherzod Agzamov!

Update 12/4/06: Hanan of growabrain gave us another link to the white shirt experiment: Link


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8 comments to "Michael Shermer on Science and Perceptual Blindness."

  1. dead_red_eyes
    December 4th, 2006 at 6:18 pm

    Did you see the guy in the Monkey outfit the first time? I sure didn't ... haha.

  2. Lasagne
    December 4th, 2006 at 7:15 pm

    I didn't either. *lol*

    And I loved the new version of the Katie Melua song! :-D

  3. Justin
    December 5th, 2006 at 12:42 pm

    HaH the first time I saw the video, I only saw the monkey when he started waving his hands. I had no idea he just saunters onto the screen slowly and then exits! Oh, and the song at the end was pretty funny.

  4. Alex
    December 5th, 2006 at 12:51 pm

    A significant portion of the audience at the conference didn't see it either! (And these are supposed to be a pretty smart bunch!)

  5. Chad Cloman
    December 6th, 2006 at 11:25 am

    I was so focused on white that I blanked out the monkey completely (because he was dark). Wonder if I would've done the same if he'd had us count the number of passes between the black-shirted people.

  6. Dan Rockwell
    December 6th, 2006 at 1:04 pm

    I noticed the gorilla on the first viewing only as he was exiting the scene, and I can't even take credit for that because I only bothered to notice him due to hearing the laughter from the TED audience!

    That alone alerted me that something was amiss, and my attention refocused into looking for what it was. Without that outside cue, I'd have completely missed him.

    By the way, I counted 17 passes.

  7. Fred
    December 9th, 2006 at 5:02 pm

    I had to go back and make sure he wasn't showing two different clips. I missed the guy in the ape suit completely the first time. Once I saw him, however, I couldn't *not* see him, even when I concentrated on counting passes again.

  8. Jeff
    April 18th, 2007 at 10:32 pm

    I wish I had seen this without being told about it - unfortunately I can't imagine not seeing the gorilla - and now I'll never have the chance to prove or disprove.

    The video is STILL AVAILABLE through a link here: Experimental Pschology: Human Perception

    The human mind is amazing!

    Jeff


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