I read the following article and the first thing that popped into my head was, "I bet someone Dx'ed with what is currently referred to as "ADHD" would not only have seen the gorilla but would have blurted out before the video was finished, "Hey! What's Up With the Gorilla?!!!" "
http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/04/20/6504138-you-cant-focus-on-everything-at-once-heres-why
Comments
I wonder if some people thought, "oh, some idiot dressed in a gorilla suit", and ignored and forgot about them. The participants were asked if they saw anything unusual, I wonder if any of those who said were no were asked if they saw a guy in a gorilla suit - a leading question, I know, but of interest.
Also, we are pack animals, if we saw everyone in the video ignoring the guy, we might decide he must be harmless and ignore him too.
Exactly! That was my point. See, the way I see it is - what happens to cognition and recall when one is instructed to focus on a very specific thing? How many people saw the gorilla but "filtered" it out because the gorilla had nothing to do with what they were instructed to observe and focus on?
Or another way I look at it is - what happens when one is instructed to narrow one's own mental aperture to focus on what is externally deemed "relevant" and "recallable" information?