Count the bounces
Count how many times the white shapes touch the edges of the screen. Be precise: it’s harder than it looks.
The experiment starts as soon as the page has loaded (JavaScript is required).
Try the experiment: your result will appear here, next to what most people do.
What just happened (read it after the experiment)
What most people do: In experiments of this kind, about one person in two fails to see the intruder.
While you were counting, a cross moved across the screen. If you didn’t see it, you’re in good company.
This is inattentional blindness. In 1999, Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris asked volunteers to count the passes between basketball players: half of them failed to see a person in a gorilla suit walk through the scene, thumping their chest.
Attention is a narrow spotlight: whatever falls outside the beam doesn’t exist for you, even in the middle of the picture.
More experiments
Sources
- Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris, “Gorillas in our midst,” Perception, 1999.