Theres a psychological phenomenon known as the looked-but-failed-to-see error. Its usually discussed in relation to car accidents - for example, the driver of a car looked right where a cyclist was but literally did not see her and, as a result, hit her - but it applies throughout our lives. Our brains create for us the illusion that we are seeing everything around us, but it truly is an illusion. Our cognitive capacity is much more limited than we recognize, so our minds have to focus on whats subconsciously deemed most important. Consequently, we are tuned to focus on what we expect to see and need to see under the current conditions. While driving, thats other cars and traffic signals and signs and road conditions. Because cyclists (even motorcyclists) are much less common than cars in most places in the US, our brains can literally not perceive them even if we look right where they are. This is why I no longer cycle in traffic. This phenomenon also applies to what happened to me with my car being towed yesterday. I looked for a no parking sign, which meant I looked right towards where the railroad crossing guard and lights were, but I wasnt expecting to see them so I didnt (the fact that I looked while still in my car played a role, too, limiting my upward visibility). And, when were stressed by multiple pressing cognitive demands, we fail to see even more of whats going on around us, which is why using a phone while driving to text or call should be against the law, period. Driving is much more cognitively demanding than we realize because most of us do it daily and we take it for granted. It doesnt SEEM to be demanding very much of our minds while were doing it because so much of what we have to keep track of to drive safely is handled by the automatic, subconscious part of our minds. Its only when the unexpected happens that we discover just what we were missing. This video experiment is the very best demonstration Ive seen of the looked-but-failed-to-see phenomenon. Its only 1 minute 41 seconds long, well worth the time to get a vivid picture of how, when focused on one thing, we can miss what was obvious in retrospect.
Posted on: Mon, 16 Jun 2014 15:26:33 +0000
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