"But officer, I looked and I didn't see him."
Often the first words spoken at the scene of an accident when a motorist knocks over a cyclist or motorcyclist.
Maybe a weak excuse but it still can be true! Often motorists are carefully looking out for "car sized" objects and their brain completely filters out traffic which is smaller. Our eyes and brains don't really behave like a camera attached to a computer scanning the environment, we don't always see everything which is visible (domestic blindness, anyone?).
An interesting book if you can still lay your hands on it is "Pavlov's Heirs" by S. Schwartz. Not only about perception but other interesting psychology experiments too (I couldn't watch Lynndie England on SBS this week without thinking of Stanley Milgrams experiments).
Also "New Scientist" did a very good article about 5 years ago, specifically on visual perception, where they "hid" an item on the front cover. (I will scan a copy for you Mark. I remember I was so impressed with the example at the time I swiped the magazine!)
All of us are handicapped by our basic hardwiring which was really only intended for chasing animals around the savannah with pointy sticks. As soon as we get into a technical environment (ala James Reason) it's amazing any of us survive at all :-)
(I got a constant speed endorsement on my PPL yesterday. Every time I moved the throttle my eyes went automatically to .... the tacho. How hard is that _conditioned response_ going to be to break completely!)
Regards
SWK
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Mark
> Newton
> Sent: Thursday, 7 April 2005 13:57
> To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.
> Subject: [Aus-soaring] Inattentional Blindness
>
>
> The Visual Cognition Lab at the Beckman Institute at University of
> Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) studies human response to visible
> stimuli.
>
| ********************************************************************** This email and any file attachments are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please tell us immediately by return email and delete the document. The information in this email expresses the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of ETSA Utilities. ********************************************************************** |
_______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list Aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
