An experiment was conducted in which a person was talking to a young adult stranger, and two workers carried a door between this person and the young man. Another young man was switched with the original stranger. Only half of the participants tested this way noticed the switch. What were the conclusions regarding this experiment?
A)More college students did not notice the switch because they were in a hurry and thinking about getting to their next class.
B)More older persons did not notice the switch because their brains are beginning to be damaged by the onset of senility.
C)More older persons did not notice because they encoded both young men in very general terms as a "college student."
D)More older persons did not notice the switch because of poor visual acuity.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This experiment illustrates the concept of change blindness, where changes in a visual scene are not detected by the observer. The conclusion that more older persons did not notice the switch because they encoded both young men in very general terms as a "college student" suggests that the encoding process, rather than visual acuity or cognitive decline, played a significant role in the failure to detect the change. This highlights how people's perceptions and memory encoding can influence their attention to detail in their environment.

An Experiment Was Conducted in Which a Person Was Talking