Simons and Chabris

Question 1

Área

Answer 1

Cognitive

Question 2

Aim

Answer 2

To investigate whether the transparency of a video, nature of event, difficulty level or similarity of the task affects attention

Question 3

Sample

Answer 3

228 undergrads from Harvard University

Question 4

Procedure

Answer 4

1. Each participant was shown a 75s clip
2. The clip was changed based on 4 independent variable: video appearance (transparent vs fake), the type of event (umbrella woman vs gorilla), the similarity of the task (black vs white team) and the difficulty of the task (number of passes ve number of bounce and aerial passes)

Question 5

Quantitative Findings

Answer 5

67% of people saw the unexpected event when focussing on the black team compared to 8% for the white team
63.5% saw the unexpected event when given the easy task vs 44.6% when given the difficult task

Question 6

Conclusion

Answer 6

There is evidence for inattentional blindness because participants failed to see the event when paying attention to something else

Question 7

Which classic study does this relate to?

Answer 7

Moray

Question 8

Similarities to Moray

Answer 8

They both used students (Harvard University and Oxford University)
They both used deception

Question 9

Differences to Moray

Answer 9

Experimental design (independent measures vs repeated measures)
Types of attention studies (inattentional barrier vs inattentional blindness)

Question 10

How has and hasn’t it changed our understanding from Moray?

Answer 10

It has told us about a new type of attention (visual vs auditory)
It gives us information on the US rather than the UK (cultural)
It still uses students (social)
It still tells us that if we are focussed on one thing then we might miss something else