Alvaro Fernandez
Sep 28th, 2006
Sep 28th, 2006
Attention and working memory
Do we have selective attention? Do we all have "attention deficits"? or are they "working memory" challenges?
Let's try this little experiment, conceived by Simons and Chabris for their classic study on sustained inattentional blindness (1999).You will watch a brief video clip, and your challenge is to count the total number of times that the basketballs change hands.
Click here to view the Basketball Experiment clip (To view it, you will need to have Java active in your browser. The video is fairly large, 7.5MB, and it might take a while to finish loading.)
You can read about the fascinating results here.
Credit for pic: Haines World
[...] You may also try an enlightening experiment on our habits. [...]
[...] You may also try an enlightening experiment on our habits. [...]
[...] 2. Can you count?: Basketball attention experiment [...]
[...] 2. Can you count?: Basketball attention experiment [...]
So... how many times did the dam kids pass the balls around? I counted 37. Might I add, what the hell was that dam gorilla doing walking around in a highscool, someone could have been killed. Gorilla's belong in a jungle or exploited in a zoo. LOL
A gorilla? and did you also see the flying pig?
[...] 2. Can you count?: Basketball attention experiment [...]
Did anyone else notice the dancing Gorilla passing by? O_o
well, yes, i noticed the gorilla. it got in the way of several of the handoffs and i was quite annoyed. i counted 28.
I saw the gorilla and I counted 31 handoffs.
nooooooooo, I did not see the damn gorilla (until I went back and watched it again!)
And I had 30 to 31 handoffs! They did not ask me to count the gorillas...just the hand offs!
Happy to see that all of you are enjoying the experiment
25?
30?
No, there was only 1 Gorilla...you would probably have noticed 25 or 30 of them
[...] 2) Why the use of "can"? Well, this reminds me a great quote by Spanish neuroscientist Santiago Ramon y Cajal, who said that "Every man can, if he so desires, become the sculptor of his own brain". Each of us has immense potential. However, in the same way that Michaelangelo’s David didn’t spontaneously appear out-of-the-blue one day, becoming happier requires attention, intention, and actual practice. Attention: Every second, you choose what to pay attention to. You can focus on the negative and thereby train your brain to focus on the negative. You can choose to watch TV five hours in a row, thereby training your brain to become a passive spectator of events. Or you can do the opposite. Attention works outwards and inwards: you can pay attention to your own meaningful emotions or try to ignore them. Many times we are not aware of the choices we are really making and their implications, which is why practices like mindfulness meditation can help. Try this experiment on selective attention. [...]
I saw the gorilla, I thought it was there to psyche me out so I would miss some passes. I counted 37 passes, how many are there really?
My AP Pysch teacher showed us this today, but he told us to ignore the people in black shirts completely and only count the passes made by the people in the white shirts. As a result of this selective attention experiment, only 4 people in our 30+ person class (I was one of them) saw the gorilla on the first time around. Very amusing.
Hello student, great to hear there is a connection between our blog and AP Psych classes!
were you able to count the passes as well?
[...] 6. Make sure to keep stress and anxiety under control. Why is this important? Because stress can narrow your focus of attention too much and make you miss the big picture. Why is this so? Well, imagine you are a zebra about to be attacked by a lion. Your only priority now is to run as fast as possible and try to survive. It is not the time for complex thinking, for learning new skills. In fact, most of the blood flow that usualy goes to the brain gets diverted and gets sent to the zebra's main muscles, to run faster. And the same happens with humans, when we see a real or imaginary "lion": we can not think clearly. For example, try this experiment: Attention and working memory. [...]
[...] 2. Can you count?: Basketball attention experiment (Interactive). [...]
[...] 2. Can you count?: Basketball attention experiment (Interactive). [...]
31
I counted around 30 hand offs, but I'm SURE I may have missed a few. There was an APE in the way.
Not that I registered her as such - I wasn't paying attention to anything but the balls - until I read the article and then watched it a second time. In fact, the first time, I noticed that ppl were constantly blocking view one way or another... The fact that an Ape joined in to help them confuse me, escape my attention completely.
Now, granted, I'm working while doing this, but I think I counted 32 passes.
Where can we get the answer?
My AP PSYCH teacher showed this to us yesterday. Amazingg. No one in the saw the gorilla. crazy stuff
I counted 30 passes but did not notice the gorilla until I read the comments.
I count'd 28 but the gorilla freaked me out so i missed a few passes...but then when i saw the duck .....
[...] Μεταξύ άλλων links, πέτυχα και το παραπάνω πείραμα, μπορείτε να δείτε το video στο παρακάτω post με τίτλο Attention and working memory. [...]
Well, I only counted 29 passes, and like someone else said, I saw the gorilla, but thought it was there to distract from counting the passes.
After reading the website this individual linked to, I realize that the point isn't to count the balls accurately (will probably never get a straight answer on that one) but to show that most people will just simply miss the gorilla.
So yay if you saw it the first time, and even yay if you had to be told!
32 gorillas
i counted 22 passes. what's the correct answer.
I can't believe I NEVER saw the Gorilla! All of you who did see it, bravo! And I thought I was so smart...
I have noticed 25 times hands change of the basketball.
I did see the gorilla but it didn't have anything to do with what I was doing so I ignored it after noticing it come in. : P
I counted 31.
This is the most fun reading a blog I've had in ages. firefox crashed on two attempts so I did not even see the video!!
Hello everyone, great to see so much activity! we are looking for similar fun experiments to offer, given the success of this one.
Gerard, the video is back up!
I counted 31 handoffs and I saw the gorilla. What does all of this mean and how can I use it? How do I develop a better brain?
Hello Michael, this is simply an experiment on how perception works. You may have seen in this thread that a number of people didn't see the gorilla. The paper we link to explain it in much more detail , and its implications in daily life-like missing the big picture when we are too focused on details.
How to develpp a better brain? well, there are may places to start, but let me suggest our home page, www.sharpbrains.com. Every person comes from a different place, and has different priorities, so we cannot give you a "recipe" but offer you good quality and comprehensive information.
And Happy 2008!
I was aware of some image that briefly interfered with my ability to concentrate and count. My brain sort of shooed it away. When I watched again after reading the results, the human in a gorilla suit was clear as day. Food for thought. . .
Wow:)
Yehh Saw Gorilla
Good Test
I Saw About 29-33
Its Hard
x
Does no one make mention of the two very large S's on the walls? I did not notice those the first time I saw the video either.
I counted 31 or 32
Great point, Keith...we need to contact Simons and Chabris to do some follow-up experiments
I saw the Gorilla and counted 32-35. Where do I find the actual number of passes ?
WAS IT A REAL GORRILA?
I saw the gorilla. Frist I looked at the basketballs and I tried to follow them, than I just relaxed and decided to just count the times when I saw them in the air without following the students (when they have the ball in their hand).
31 + gorilla? lol
For those that want the number, it seems easiest to count each 'team' seperately: white pass 14 times, black 19. I am very confident on the white count, slightly less so on the black team because twice they pass the ball while all three are standing behind each other (which is probably why so many see only 31 when having to track white at the same time)
Btw, I think the experiment would work better on visitors when you don't basically telegraph what the experiment is about before getting people to do it themselves.
I counted 32 passes.
I JUST GOT IT!!!
Look closely and you'll notice that all the people in white are only throwing the ball to the people in white. The people in black are only throwing it to the people in black. I counted 14 for the white team and 19 for the black team.... and yes I noticed the Gorilla
i didn't even see the basketballs.
i counted 32>???
ya i counted 26 but did not see gorilla
I got 32, that was fun and sometimes they throw while someon's in the way O.o
Wait, why is everyone confused with the gorilla? Is that the hard part, because I seen him no problem lol.
I counted an even 20. I got sidetracked. Anyway, If I'm wrong I blame it on that blasted gorilla, so there!
OK, i watched the video twice well 3 times.
The first time i noticed the "gorilla", i noticed the 2 big S's on the wall, and i noticed that the people in white shirts passing to white shirts, & black shirts passing to the black shirts.
I counted 29 passes the first time.
after reading some comments like the other person i decided to count the "white shirt passes" and then the "black shirt passes", that time i counted 34 passes in total.
So like i said, i saw the gorilla, the S's, the white shirts, and the black shirts, i think i saw 34 passes.
Now, please tell me how many times the ball was passed for each color shirt and passes in total.
Please =)`
Thank you
I counted 27 passes (but I never played basketball, so the whole thing was very confusing). I did not know about the gorilla until I read the article, and I was stunned! Consider myself pretty observant. This is a great experiment. The number of passes is irrelevant, for all of you who still wonder! The point is that when you're attention is on something specific, you fail to notice other things. I'm not sure I believe the people who say they noticed the gorilla the first time --- unless they weren't really counting the passes.
Hello Gigi, glad you enjoyed it. You got the point.
Now, we all have our strong and weak points...there are in fact people who can notice the gorilla the first time, even while counting. Impressive, I know
Gorilla!?!?! I can´t belive it. I had to watch it again to see the gorilla.
I was counting when a rather peculiar Gorilla started to dance in crowed of kids playing basketball.
Those selfish kids, didn't even hand off to the more agile and yes very friendly Gorilla. What gives? Oh i counted 30, and didn't notice the gorilla at first.
Nice gorilla!! **Ahhh...Drulling**
I got 32 (:
i counted 32
first time round totally missed the gorilla! Second time round i noticed it and noticed white shirts passed to white shirts and black shirts passed to black shirts!
I missed the gorilla completely until second pass. In retro, I may have seen a dark shadow which I briefly which I disregarded. Didn't notice whites and blacks only threw to same color. Got a long way to go. Great exercise.
And now I don't remember how many balls I counted, but do remember counting only times balls actually passed from one person's hands to another's...
OK, I only counted 27, but did see the "S" but not the fuzzy creature....
How many woodchucks could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? (Still only see 27 passes.)
36
SAW THE GORILLA FIRST TIME TOO
Very Interesting results. I did see the gorilla, however, it was only after I read the article, That it registered. Very fascinting. I counted 29 or 30!
I counted 28....
I counted 32 passes
.
Saw gorilla the first time, but disregarded it as it didn't get the ball
I thought they were playing some kind of team monkey--i mean--gorilla in the middle for a second there
I actually realized that they didn't pass to each other which made it easier to keep track of the number...
i got twenty six and i saw the gorilla
My brother showed this to me when he was in psych class...I noticed the gorilla right away and counted how many times hte ball was passed hahaha it made me smile and him mad because I saw it
I can't believe some people don't notice that!
i counted 31 passes. seen a better version which is harder to keep track in.and i noticed the gorilla first time.
I counted 16-- because can you count it if the ball is bounced and returns to the same pair of hands?
i counted 26, saw the gorilla
i saw the gorilla, no flying pig. and im sure there was only 24 passes...most of the time they just kept dribbling and passing to themselves...
okay i watched it again. and this time i got twenty-six...
yea we wached this one at school and no on seen the gorila at first so we had to go back and watch it so yea i seen the thing back there doin the pop he was just tryin to be a showoff lol but i counted 27 balls
Realy it was the most interesting quiz i have had for the first time i count 23 and i see the funny gorila ;D the secound time i count 30 but i'm not sure that i'v i see the gorilla;D
There were 34 hand changes (black 19, white 15), you have to watch the clip atleast twice.
I counted 24 passes and 0 gorillas
I counted 28 and saw the gorilla! It's funny cuz while counting I said to myself: "Great... they had to through in a damn gorilla to screw up my counting"!!
I counted Thirty two but that gorilla distracted me, and them turning their backs when I couldn’t see the balls. My son 10 years old was watching with me and counted 29. I asked him did that gorilla distract him too and he said what gorilla LOL. I had to play the whole thing all over again to prove that there was a gorilla.
I counted 28 passes and no gorrillas ;-(
i counted twenty five because the gorilla came in and had the ball twice and that has confused me also it was hard to try and count when the ball was being passed so fast
i counted 24
I watched the video several times, noticed the gorilla at some point, and had a nice laugh. But throughout I was hyper-focused on counting every last pass. Because the question was solely asking how many times the balls were passed, that was what I focused on. The thought that the whole point was that I might be so focused on counting the basketballs that I might miss something as ridiculous as the gorilla unexpectedly appearing did not even begin to cross my mind during the exercise. Even after I read several of your replies that were notably not mentioning how many times the balls were actually passed, Alvaro,
I still thought it was of some importance that I figure out how many times the balls were actually passed. ^_^
I sometimes grow so focused on specific details that I miss other potentially important happenings.
Seeing how I handled the exercise, then discovering its true purpose has helped me to better conceptualize what is happening when I become overly focused on details.
Sometimes individual details are important enough to merit one's entire focus. But only sometimes, and it is important to have a feel for which details to focus on at what times, I think.
Thank you for devoting so much of your time to this site. I've found it to be much fun, very useful, and easy to use!
^_^
Wow, i was concentrating hard on the counts when the gorilla appeared and it was just so random, i started cracking up, i watched it a second time and ignored the gorilla and counted 27 passes
yo sup
i counted like 30 passes
Eric, thank you for your great comment. That's the right lesson: being aware of how our minds work can enable us to choose the right focus for our very scarce resource - attention.
tried three times and counted 27, 35, 30....and did notice the gorilla but if you waste time noticing the gorilla your score will drop anyway. too many people 'blocking'. What IS the right answer
?
I can't believe nobody saw the giraffe and I counted two passes.
25 + gorilla
I saw the Gorilla, and i counted 34.
i saw the gorilla... n counted 38 passes/// wats the rite answer???