Simons and Chabris (1999) asked participants to watch a video that shows three people wearing white T-shirts, passing a basketball, and three people wearing black T-shirts, passing another basketball.They found that ______.
A)participants could not detect one basketball if they were tracking the other one
B)attention could be divided as long as the uniforms being worn were achromatic
C)attention could be divided and almost all participants noticed a cheerleader walking through the scene
D)nearly half of the participants failed to notice a person in a gorilla suit walking through the scene

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Simons and Chabris (1999) found that nearly half of the participants failed to notice a person in a gorilla suit walking through the scene, demonstrating inattentional blindness. Therefore, option D is correct. Option A is incorrect because participants were able to detect both basketballs, but failed to notice the gorilla due to inattentional blindness. Option B is incorrect because attentional capacity is limited, and attention cannot be divided without a cost to performance, regardless of the uniform being worn. Option C is also incorrect because although nearly half the participants missed the gorilla, almost all of them did not miss a cheerleader walking through the scene because it was unexpected and unusual.

Simons and Chabris (1999) Asked Participants to Watch a Video