“But where did I put the keys?” It is the recurring question when it happens to desperately search for the keys or the remote control, and then discover that they were really before our eyes. This is a common experience that takes the name of selective carelessness: We don’t see objects that are right there, in our visual field. Sometimes, however, the damage is not as mild like losing a few minutes in search of the keys: we feel of road accidents where drivers swear that they have not seen a pedestrian, a cyclist or motorcyclist “sprouted out of nowhere”. Our brain, constantly bombed by stimulia drastic must operate selection information, filtering What considers irrelevant to the main task that we are paying attention to. This phenomenon reminds us that ours perception of the world is not complete or perfect, but it is filter through the prism of attention. We are not distracted or forgetful when we do not find the keys that are right in front of us: it is our brain that is doing its best to manage an infinite flow of information with limited resources.
The lost keys: a manual case
Let’s think about the keys that we never can find. When we look for an object, our brain forms amental image of what we are looking for. If the keys are not where we expect they are, or if they appear in a context other than the one in which we mentally placed them, our brain could literally “do not see them“, even if our eyes fix them directly.
This happens because our brain has limited resources To develop, moment by moment, the information that surrounds him. If our attention should take into consideration all the stimuli (visual, auditory, tactiles) that come to it, our brain would easily overload. The evolution therefore meant that, in the path that leads to the central areas of our attention, there are a series of filters that allow you to ignore the irrelevant information.
Paradoxically, however, the problem is that, sometimes, these brain filters target what we are actively looking for and excludes it, making us more difficult to find our keys. This singular behavior is determined by some factors:
- Conspicuity: how much an object is able to capture our attention. Objects that are not distinguished from the surrounding environment are more easily ignored. The same principle, in reverse, is exploited in nature for camouflage: the more I look like the context, the less I am noticed.
- Mental load: The more our brain is engaged in a task, the less resources can dedicate other stimuli. If someone in the office tells us something important while we are concentrated on something else, even if apparently the information seems to have been implemented, it is likely that our brain displays it quickly, not allowing us to remember it, to make room for the task in which we were concentrated.
- Expectations: We tend to see what we expect to see. If we are looking for the car keys but we expect they are in a pocket instead of on the table, we may not notice them even if, perhaps, they are right on the table.
The irrelevant information and the invisible gorilla test
It was the psychologists Arien Mack and Irvin Rock in the 90s who described the phenomenon as a form of “blindness of attention“, That is, the inability to perceive relevant stimuli in the environment, despite being perfectly visible. But the experiment that has popularized this phenomenon is known as”The invisible gorilla test“, formulated by psychologists Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons. In this curious experiment, the researchers show volunteers a recording of two teams with different (white and black) shirts who pass the ball and at the beginning of the video, they are asked to focus on the counting of the steps made by the group dressed with the white shirt. During the sequence, a figure disguised as Gorilla enters the video and briefly stopped in the center and leaves the scene. About 50% of the participants do not notice the Gorilla at all! They are thus focused on counting the passages that their brain simply “waste“That information, considering it irrelevant to the assigned task.
How to reduce selective carelessness
Completely eliminating this phenomenon is impossible, since it is part of the normal operation of our brain. There is no real recipe to reduce inattention, but by combining common sense with the experimental conditions of the studies we can draw some indications e strategies To reduce the effects:
- Be aware of the problem: Knowing that selective carelessness exists makes us more cautious. For example: it pushes us to look for a second time in a place where we have already searched, realizing that the keys were right there!
- Avoid multitasking in activities that require attention: the guide, for example, should have our full attention, as well as ask colleagues to leave messages writings Instead of voice, so we can conclude the activity in which we were concentrated before we could dedicate new concentration to other information.
- Change perspective: When we are looking for something we do not find, he can help get away and return with a “fresh” look, or ask someone else to help us think or remember what we did the last time we came into contact with the object we are looking for.
- Create environments with less distractions: for example, designate a specific place for the keys and other objects that we tend to lose, or maintain the workplace and productivity relatively bare, where to find things quickly becomes important.
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