While driving home one evening, Owen is so involved in his cell phone conversation that he doesn't notice an empty car at the side of the road and hits it. Owen is all right, but since it wasn't yet dark, the police say Owen should have had no problems seeing the car. When they learn he was talking on his phone, they say that because he was distracted, other stimuli didn't register in his consciousness. This phenomenon is referred to as
A) top-down processing.
B) shadowing.
C) inattentional blindness.
D) a Gestalt.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Inattentional blindness refers to the phenomenon in which an individual fails to notice unexpected stimuli because their attention is focused on something else, leading other stimuli to not register in their consciousness. In this case, Owen's attention was on his cell phone conversation, leading him to overlook the empty car on the side of the road.

While Driving Home One Evening, Owen Is So Involved in His