Count the Passes

[Grip Fast]

If you haven't seen this before, it is quite interesting. I saw the video in a class of about 30 people, with only a few who had seen it before, and therefore knew the answer. The task is very simple, there are 6 basketball players, three in white tops, three in black tops. All you have to do is count the number of time the white-top players pass the ball to each other. It takes quite a bit of concentration to get the right answer. Best if you count out loud, I find. But do try it, it is interesting.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY

[Grip Fast]

The point of the video it to show how easy it is to miss something very obvious when you are not looking for it. Of the folk in the class, only the ones who had seen the video before saw the fairly obvious item, but even they failed to notice a couple of other seemingly major things in the video.

This was a class of pilots, but I think it applies to motorcyclists and drivers too. For drivers, will they always see a motorbike if they're not looking for one. For motorcyclists, are you certain that car driver will see you, even when they are looking straight at you.

[Herb]

They showed this in my speed awareness course last week! Think I've seen it in the cinema too. Certainly gets you thinking.

[andy griff]

There are several versions of this video , and it is very entertaining. But, got to be honest I am not sure of its relevance to driving. The original video was designed for a psychological study. The point of the video is that you are deliberately mis directed to focus on one aspect of the activity (i.e. counting the passes) - a somewhat different situation to not being aware of seeing a motorcycle.

[Herb]

I think it's relevant. It's highlighting the limitations of our vision / visual processing. In and off itself it is of limited use, but Used as part of a larger presentation I think it served to get people thinking and people will remember (hopefully) the point they were trying to make.

[Grip Fast]

I think it does show what can happen when focus or concentration is narrowed, either by high workload (a problem in flying) or attention on something else while driving. I have witnessed a van force a car off the road, not through any malice, but because the van driver was deep in conversation on the phone. The van driver's eyes seemed to be looking out, but he did not see the car in front of him; he could only see his phone conversation. There was no collision, and the car driver didn't sound his horn. I'm sure that the van driver, to this day, doesn't know he forced the car off the road.

Like others in the class, I got the correct count of passes, so I was looking at the screen but I could only see the white-topped players. I was shocked that I didn't see the gorilla or the backdrop change colour. I've watched it another couple of times and still miss the player leaving the stage.

I would argue that this is a human failing, and that someone can look straight at you but you don't register with them because they are concentrating on something else.

[Grip Fast]

I think it's relevant. It's highlighting the limitations of our vision / visual processing. In and off itself it is of limited use, but Used as part of a larger presentation I think it served to get people thinking and people will remember (hopefully) the point they were trying to make.

Agreed. In my case, the video did play a small part in a talk about safety in aviation, and was very relevant to the topic being discussed at the time.