“Sometimes the most difficult thing is to be able to see the most obvious thing!”
Mehmet Murat ildan
Key Point
According to a 2005 study published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Science, the term change blindness "refers to the surprising difficulty observers have in noticing large changes to visual scenes."
Change Blindness in the Real World By Kendra Cherry
Detecting change plays a major role in our ability to function in our daily life. You can probably already think of a few examples of when change blindness might cause problems in real-world situations.
Some of these include:
Social Interactions. Change blindness can impact our day-to-day social interactions such as relatively minor slip-ups like asking the wrong waiter for the check.
Driving: Failure to detect changes in the environment while you are driving can lead to dire, sometimes fatal, consequences. Researchers have found that distractions such as talking on the phone or texting can impact attention and lead to increased change blindness.
Eyewitness Testimony: Researchers have found that change blindness can also play a role in a witness's ability to recount the details of a crime or to identify the perpetrator of a crime.
Air Traffic Control: If an air traffic control fails to detect important changes, fatal accidents could result.
Sherlock Holmes teaches us to be constantly mindful of our surroundings—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
“The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.”
Sherlock Holmes Quote-The Hound of the Baskervilles
‘You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.’
Sherlock Holmes Quote-A Scandal in Bohemia
‘The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning.’
Sherlock Holmes Quote -The Sign of Four
“There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.”
Sherlock Holmes Quote-Boscombe Valley Mystery
Suggested Reading
How Attention Works: Finding Your Way in a World Full of Distraction by Stefan Van der Stigchel and Danny Guinan
Points of Reflection
“The obvious can sometimes be illuminating when perceived in an unhabitual way.”
Daniel Quinn
If perceiving change is so important, why do we often fail to notice changes?
Author Unknown