Has anyone ever experienced inattentional blindness? It's when you miss something right in front of your eyes. I'm thinking about writing an article on the many different ways we make mistakes.
I read where a group of radiologists were given a chest Xray to view and many failed to notice that there was a missing clavicle!
I remember driving through a red light on my way home after a night shift. I didn't see the red light, and I may have never known, except that a policeman pulled me over. He saw my stethoscope and just gave me a warning. You can imagine how much it shook me up.
Wonder if anyonelse has had a similar experience? I suspect there's a lot more to the science of making mistakes that we realize.
I once searched for my glasses when I woke up. My unassisted vision isn't so good, so I not only looked, I had my hands out feeling for them. (The glasses blend into the background, so it's hard to see them.)
I looked and looked, until I happened to glance into a mirror and say them, on my face, in front of my eyes! Then, and only then, was I able to see clearly.
The brain is powerful. I was sure that I couldn't see clearly, so I couldn't see clearly.
Well, one day I tore my house up looking for my glasses. Y'all I was pissed! Everything was thrown around and moved to find my glasses. Well wouldn't you know I just so happen to walk past a mirror in the hallway and saw my glasses..... on my face! It never dawned on me that I was seeing perfectly clear while looking for those glasses. I burst out laughing because I couldn't believe I was on a rampage for something that was on my face and I had to see myself in the mirror to take notice I was seeing clearly.
I once searched for my glasses when I woke up. My unassisted vision isn't so good, so I not only looked, I had my hands out feeling for them. (The glasses blend into the background, so it's hard to see them.)
I looked and looked, until I happened to glance into a mirror and say them, on my face, in front of my eyes! Then, and only then, was I able to see clearly.
The brain is powerful. I was sure that I couldn't see clearly, so I couldn't see clearly.
I just posted the same thing before I scrolled back up and saw your post! ?
How about the video circulating around about the selective attention test, it's a circle of people bouncing a basketball to each other and the instructions are to count the number of times the people dressed in white bounce the basketball...during this time a person dressed as a gorilla walks into the circle, turns to face the camera, pounds its chest, and walks out of the circle. I followed the instructions and counted diligently the number of times those dressed in white passed the ball and never noticed the gorilla walk through. Amazing
I just recently was trying to remember a step for irish dancing that I had learned many years ago, and just couldn't do it. I had to get the "right" music on, turn off my brain and let my legs just do it, then my brain remembered the step again.
I haven't just gone into autopilot and found my way to wherever I was going; one day I took it up a notch and drove to a place I hadn't lived in in YEARS! Autopilot + time travel = no good at all.
A friend of mine came in to work laughing. It seems she normally poured her coke into a water bottle to drink on the way to work. That morning, she opened the can of coke, and poured it into her purse!
I can honestly say that I have NOT 'been there, done that'.
Kitiger, RN
1,834 Posts
I once searched for my glasses when I woke up. My unassisted vision isn't so good, so I not only looked, I had my hands out feeling for them. (The glasses blend into the background, so it's hard to see them.)
I looked and looked, until I happened to glance into a mirror and say them, on my face, in front of my eyes! Then, and only then, was I able to see clearly.
The brain is powerful. I was sure that I couldn't see clearly, so I couldn't see clearly.