The Invisible Change
Rea,
Do you think you notice everything that happens right in front of you? Most people would say yes, but our brains actually miss a lot of what we see. This connects to what’s happening with Dadi - just as her brain fills in missing information where she can’t see, our brains also filter out things they don’t think are important.
In 1998, psychologists Daniel Simons and Daniel Levin did a clever experiment on a college campus. A researcher stopped people to ask for directions. While they were talking, two people carrying a door walked between them, briefly blocking their view. During this moment, the original researcher was switched with a completely different person who continued the conversation.
The result? About half the people never noticed they were suddenly talking to someone new! They just kept giving directions, unaware of the switch that happened right in front of them.
These researchers also created “the invisible gorilla” test. People counting basketball passes in a video completely missed a person in a gorilla suit who walked through the scene for 9 seconds. Half the viewers didn’t see the gorilla at all.
Scientists call this “inattentional blindness.” We can miss things right in front of us when our attention is focused elsewhere. It’s like our attention is a flashlight in a dark room - we only see where we’re pointing it.
This changed how scientists understand vision. Our brains don’t work like cameras recording everything. They focus on what seems important and filter out the rest. This was a big shift in understanding how we see - from passive recording to active selection.
Dadi’s brain is doing what all brains do - creating the best picture it can with limited information. Most of us don’t realize our brains do this all the time. We think we’re seeing everything, but we’re actually seeing an edited version of reality.
This happens in everyday life too. Have you ever looked everywhere for something, only to find it was right in front of you? Or missed when someone got a haircut? These are examples of how our brains can miss obvious changes.
Try this with your family: have someone look at a room, then leave. Change one thing while they’re gone. When they return, see if they can spot what changed. You’ll be surprised how often people miss even big changes!
Love, Abba
P.S. Next time you can’t find something that’s right in front of you, remember - your brain might be too focused on other things to see what’s actually there!
