In a now classic study by Simons and Chabris (1999), participants watched two teams pass a basketball to their teammates. One team was wearing white shirts and the other team was wearing black shirts. Participants were told to count how many times the team wearing the white shirts passed the basketball, thereby directing their attention to the white shirts and ignoring the black shirts. Interestingly, more than half of the participants failed to notice when a man wearing a black gorilla suit walked right past the two teams. This phenomenon is known as:
A) inattentional blindness.
B) change blindness.
C) the cocktail party effect.
D) mindfulness.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The phenomenon described in the passage, where participants fail to notice a gorilla walking past the basketball players due to focused attention, is known as inattentional blindness. This is the inability to perceive something that is in plain sight due to selective attention. The other options (B, C, and D) do not accurately describe this phenomenon.

In a Now Classic Study by Simons and Chabris (1999)