Simons and Chabris showed participants a film of two basketball teams, one wearing black shirts and the other wearing white. Observers were asked to watch the film closely and count how many times a basketball passed between members of one of the teams, while ignoring the other team. As the observers watched and counted, a person wearing a gorilla suit walked into the middle of the basketball game, faced the camera, thumped its chest, and walked out of view. Which of the following occurred?
A)All of the participants lost count of the number of basketball passes because of the unexpected appearance of the gorilla.
B)Half of the participants failed to notice the gorilla's appearance.
C)All of the participants failed to notice the gorilla's appearance.
D)Only the female participants noticed the gorilla.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Half of the participants failed to notice the gorilla's appearance, demonstrating the phenomenon of inattentional blindness, where an unexpected object is not seen because attention is focused elsewhere.

Simons and Chabris Showed Participants a Film of Two Basketball