Comments on: At least I got the number right

At least I got the number right

aerotive — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:51:05 -0800

An interesting test with a laudable goal.

Youtube video about change blindness, academic paper (PDF) about it.

By: jedicus

jedicus — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:59:38 -0800

Ah, a double, I'm afraid.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:01:38 -0800

The tags ruin it. How can you not see THAT?

By: cillit bang

cillit bang — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:02:19 -0800

I think it's their double not aerotive's. (also the people behind it are streetteam astroturfing fucks)

By: kaibutsu

kaibutsu — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:04:55 -0800

Yes, a double, but a double promoting cycling awareness, at least. Also, I think that last time it was a guy in a gorilla suit.

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:06:25 -0800

Yeah, actually with the paper and the explanatory video (and, hell, cillit bang's Oh Snap link there), this is a bit better than just the straight youtube link from a few days ago. What the hey, the original was four years old.

By: knystress

knystress — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:10:45 -0800

It's amazing the things we can miss even when we're looking hard... I did a wicked awesome project about change blindness for a high school science fair, it went pretty far but then the judges at the provincial level didn't speak enough English to really understand, but it's cool, I still won five hundred bucks and a few medals.

By: jeblis

jeblis — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:26:12 -0800

This was ripped off from some else anyway

By: PareidoliaticBoy

PareidoliaticBoy — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:27:48 -0800

Yep, jeblis. Besides being really, really, really old, ( like ... from the last millennium) it's also frikken stolen. This video is © 1999 by Daniel J. Simons. It is provided solely so that individuals can view it. This version of the video may not be used downloaded, saved, copied, reproduced, or used for any other purpose. It is not intended for use in presentations. I'd say it flamingly obvious that the researchers understood the value of their work and were pretty flamingly adamant that people not rip it off. As a former bike store-manager, and a long term cycling advocate myself, I find this pretty embarrassing. Those very same cycling advocates would have a different attitude about having their precious rides pilfered, I'm guessing.

By: simra

simra — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:30:57 -0800

This is a fantastic premise for an ad campaign, the only down-side being that when all those change blindness experts give their lectures they'll face a diminishing pool of people who are fooled by their videos. Won't someone please think of the eggheads?!

By: saraswati

saraswati — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:52:49 -0800

Do I win something if I did notice it or does it just mean that cyclists don't have to be afraid of me anymore?

By: mrnutty

mrnutty — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:19:17 -0800

Wasn't this posted and deleted 3 days ago?

By: subgear

subgear — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:25:09 -0800

I am so lauding this goal

By: ruddhist

ruddhist — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:29:27 -0800

Well, I hadn't seen it before, and neither had my fiancee, and we laughed our asses off. Thanks.

By: mrnutty

mrnutty — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:31:12 -0800

Well, I coulda sworn it was posted just days ago, but I'll be danged if I can find it. Perhaps I just failed my own awareness test.

By: ZaneJ.

ZaneJ. — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:40:52 -0800

Lesson: Whilst cycling, don't be moonwalking in a bearsuit. Also, wear reflective shit.

By: pracowity

pracowity — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:52:13 -0800

Moonwalking bears have never, presumably, played much of role in our evolution. Has anyone done this with an attractive naked person yet? Two attractive people having sex? Or a gigantic scary spider? Or two attractive people having sex on the back of a gigantic scary spider? I'd like to know whether things change depending on the subject -- whether we are hardwired to notice some things more than other. I'd also like to see two attractive people having sex on the back of a gigantic scary spider.

By: The Light Fantastic

The Light Fantastic — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:53:11 -0800

This video is © 1999 by Daniel J. Simons. It is provided solely so that individuals can view it. This version of the video may not be used downloaded, saved, copied, reproduced, or used for any other purpose. It is not intended for use in presentations. Huh. Not only did I run into this on Stumbleupon yesterday...which has been the case with a large number of recent posts here on Mefi recently, but I also had a HUGE deja vu while viewing it. I remember this from almost a decade ago...shame shame shame!

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 23:03:15 -0800

This video is © 1999 by Daniel J. Simons. It is provided solely so that individuals can view it. This version of the video may not be used downloaded, saved, copied, reproduced, or used for any other purpose. It is not intended for use in presentations. From a psychology researcher friend: the video is actually a copy of work from the 1970s by Ulrich Nisser, who had a video where a woman with an umbrella walked through some people in alternating colors doing stuff. Also, you can't copyright an idea, much less one born of academics, which is largely about sharing your methods. Someone in advertising took an idea obviously from a psychology research project. Big whoop.

By: caddis

caddis — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 23:13:16 -0800

They can take their copyright and hide in obscurity for eternity or allow the video to be seen In either event no $ changes hands, but in the latter their work is recognized. What to do....?

By: KevinSkomsvold

KevinSkomsvold — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 23:43:49 -0800

They passed the ball 28 times and I killed 8 cyclists.

By: mumkin

mumkin — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:08:38 -0800

Psst! aerotive! If you add the InattentionalBlindness tag (which is apparently what this is, not Change Blindness), then this post will be linked with this one from 2004.

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:10:45 -0800

It's not an "Awareness Test", it's a "Hey, Schmuck! Pay Attention To This Specific Thing! I Can't Believe You Paid Attention To The Specific Thing, Schmuck! Test". I hereby resolve to punch the next cyclist or moonwalking bear I see, whichever comes first.

By: mumkin

mumkin — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:11:10 -0800

mrnutty: it was posted on March 18th and deleted.

By: trip and a half

trip and a half — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 01:11:42 -0800

I didn't see this post.

By: tickingclock

tickingclock — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 01:16:21 -0800

Mumkin is right. The basketball video is a demonstration of change blindness, not inattentional blindness. Mods: Is it kosher to link my lab's research page that deals exactly with change blindness and inattentional blindness? It has cool demos!

By: tickingclock

tickingclock — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 01:16:52 -0800

Link to it in a comment in this thread, I should add...

By: loquacious

loquacious — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 01:33:19 -0800

On-topic self links in comments are encouraged, tickingclock.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 01:38:07 -0800

"Did you see the moonwalking bear?" DID I!? WHAT THE FUCKING HELL!? One second there's a bunch of retards badly pretending to play basketball and the next there's this WALKING, DANCING BEAR weaving through them like he's not even there. How can they not see a goddamn MOONWALKING BEAR walking right through them!? These people? Do they even actually live in bear country? GO GET YOUR GUN! Err, I mean - Oh, good. It wasn't just me. I was thinking maybe it was all that LDS I did in the 60s.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 01:53:58 -0800

I was thinking maybe it was all that LDS I did in the 60s. You did a lot of Latter-day Saints in the 60s?

By: Malor

Malor — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 02:01:39 -0800

"So, while watching the basketball very carefully, to track just that one thing in a field of moving people, did you happen to notice one guy, in the same color as the black team, doing something a little unusual?" Why, no. No, I didn't. And if I HAD noticed him, I would have gotten the number of passes wrong.

By: the littlest brussels sprout

the littlest brussels sprout — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 02:11:51 -0800

That bear is terrible at moonwalking.

By: Sparx

Sparx — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 03:26:43 -0800

You can't miss the BEAR! /weeds

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 03:33:43 -0800

Bear suits are not nearly as funny as gorilla suits.

By: Silly Ashles

Silly Ashles — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:02:27 -0800

I saw the bear, but didn't notice that I did until the replay. And I only counted 11 because I got distracted by the bear without realizing. A double-fail?

By: crossoverman

crossoverman — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:12:46 -0800

You cannot be aware of everything all the time? Well, no shit.

By: game warden to the events rhino

game warden to the events rhino — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:17:26 -0800

The basketball video is a demonstration of change blindness, not inattentional blindness. No, it's inattentional blindness. (But I think that's what you meant to say.) Meanwhile, I really don't see how this is stolen — it's a TFL remake of the same idea, surely? (Hard to be 100% certain since the Simons lab webpage is such a usability disaster.)

By: Mike D

Mike D — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:46:52 -0800

"It's easy to miss something you're not looking for." Oh God... I feel so... so... human.

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 05:25:15 -0800

Scientists who put up copyright notices like that deserve to become textbook publishers going from conference to conference buying free drinks for real scientists who think their idiots but nonetheless enjoy a drink.

By: Dizzy

Dizzy — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 06:13:57 -0800

New to me. I laughed. But I still hit a coupla Cub Scouts this morning.

By: East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94

East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 06:40:23 -0800

STOP STOP IT JESUS CHRIST STOP IT

By: Ogre Lawless

Ogre Lawless — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:00:11 -0800

Yep, jeblis. Besides being really, really, really old, ( like ... from the last millennium) it's also frikken stolen. 4) Profit!

By: OldReliable

OldReliable — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:43:19 -0800

Actually, I had seen another video like this before, and was looking for the bear, and still missed it. Could be because I was looking for a gorilla.

By: aeschenkarnos

aeschenkarnos — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:49:22 -0800

Ditto OldReliable. Some interesting things on second viewing, though: the blackness of the bear is very much like the blackness of the black-shirted team's shirts. This is relevant, because it's been implied we can basically ignore the black-shirted team. Also, when the bear's moving through the crowd, the white team passes their ball a little away from him. It would be interesting to perform the experiment with a white-suited or grey-suited "bear", or some more interesting thing doing the move-through: a fully-armed soldier, a naked woman, a child significantly smaller than the basketball players but dressed like them, or a well-known and recognizable figure with a distinctive movement pattern such as Charlie Chaplin.

By: PareidoliaticBoy

PareidoliaticBoy — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:40:28 -0800

Someone in advertising took an idea obviously from a psychology research project. Big whoop. Oh, please. How much effort does it really take to properly attribute the research which one then co-opts for commercial gain? Far less than the revenue stream generated by just randomly swiping the work of other more talented investigators , I'd say. Not than anyone with any sense of fair play will ever win the argument around here that perhaps everything ever created in the entire history of the universe isn't necessarily the de-facto property of any self-satisfied hipster with five bucks, a Moleskin, and a gargantuan ego; who happens to spot a potential brand- building solution.

By: mumkin

mumkin — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:09:44 -0800

I believe you mean a Moleskine, PareidoliaticBoy. You're diluting the brand.