In Simons and Chabris's (1999) experiment, participants are focused on a challenging perceptual task, counting the white team's basketball passes while ignoring the black team's basketball passes.Because of the challenging nature of the task, ______.
A)inattentional blindness is more likely to occur
B)attentional capture of irrelevant stimuli is more likely to occur
C)attention shift is more likely to occur
D)the spotlight model of attention is needed to explain the data

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Inattentional blindness occurs when we fail to perceive a stimulus that is right in front of us because our attention is focused elsewhere. The challenging nature of the counting task makes it more likely that participants will be so focused on counting the basketball passes that they may not notice the unexpected event (the gorilla walking through the scene).

In Simons and Chabris's (1999) Experiment, Participants Are Focused on a Challenging