The explanation I was given was that once the subjects are told to look for a specific thing they "tune out" anything else.>>
This is why anyone caught texting whist driving should be shot.
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This is why anyone caught texting whist driving should be shot.
Say what you think, don't hold back ;-)
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Say what you think, don't hold back ;-)
All right then: hanged, drawn and quartered like poor old Jacobean terrorist Guy Fawkes.
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All right then: hanged, drawn and quartered like poor old Jacobean terrorist Guy Fawkes.>>
.... even better!!! ;-)
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All right then: hanged, drawn and quartered like poor old Jacobean terrorist Guy Fawkes.
GF cannot have been a Jacobean - there weren't any until after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 deposed James ll.
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GF cannot have been a Jacobean - there weren't any until after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 deposed James ll.
So Shakespeare and the other Jacobean dramatists writing into the reign of James I are misnamed then?
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Shakespeare is 100% Elizabethan
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Shakespeare is 100% Elizabethan
Shakespeare d. 1616
Elizabeth I d. 1603
James I reigned 1603-1625
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The brain is constantly throwing away, or bumping down the list, tasks at hand because it only has so much CPU power and can only do so many things at once.
Vision is a task that can easily be clipped, because at the end of the day you only needs to see things that are changing. Static unchanging scenary can be processed at much lower bit rates than moving things.
In this case the brain has a specific task to do, and it involved fast moving items. The rest becomes static scenary and it gets relegated down the CPU input queue. I bet the gorilla was moving relatively slowly and at a steady pace.
The classic car related brain task that gets "cpu prioritsed" is the rear view mirror picture. It goes like this
1 - Long look in mirror, survey all the data, create picture in memory
2 - medium look in mirror, compare picture 1 to picture 2 - note relative changes
3 - very short look in mirror - only changes to picture 2 are processed
Sometimes too many task 3's will raise an interupt and bump the task up the cpu input with the query "why are there no changes?"
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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This is something posted in a previous thread by DP
There is evidence to support the theory that people look "through" motorcyclists and train their eyes on the first car, truck or bus they see. The brain is conditioned to look for vehicles with a large frontal area (other cars and trucks) rather than a narrow motorcycle. So even though the eyes might see the bike, the brain can sometimes ignore it.
Interestingly, I found that when I had the ZX-7R with two quite widely spaced headlights, I seemed to be much more visible than on other single light bikes I've ridden. Two friends with a Fazer and a Speed Triple respectively claim that since they wired both headlights up to come on on dipped beam, both have had far fewer near misses due to SMIDSY incidents. Maybe there is some truth in it.
To which I added the following....
Interesting thought! The last time I looked and did not see something approaching (at a range of about 50m) it was a full frontal of a double decker bus! Fortunately it was travelling within the 30mph speed limit in a location where the norm is for cars and bikes to be doing 50mph. My 2nd look (a good safeguard at the best of times for bikers etc)saved me from actually pulling out, but scared the .... out of me. I rationalised the whole event by the fact that the brain was actually looking for smaller objects changing in size as they approached.
I have not linked to the thread as it was an irrelevant but interesting diversion from the original topic.
--
pmh (was peter)
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There is a specific entry on Police accident reports that states 'looked, but didn't see'
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Does anyone know what the phrase is that pilots use for sensory overload, where they lose the ability to speak because the brain is trying to process too much information? It was something like "the ??? - ??? limit", I've tried googling it but can't find anything.
I saw a documentary about aerobatic pilots; an instructor pilot kept the pupil talking but at one point the pupil could not answer for the above reason.
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Same thing happens to car drivers, unless they can't keep their minds on the essential.
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I saw a documentary about aerobatic pilots; an instructor pilot kept the pupil talking but at one point the pupil could not answer for the above reason.>>
I always found that, when I was playing guitar in a band, I couldn't respond if somebody tried to talk to me (and not just 'oi, you, shut up!').
Whilst not condoning any activity that can distract a driver's concentration, I do believe that some folks are able to multitask better than others. Some years ago, we were playing for a barn dance held in the local RAF officers mess. The squadron had just been stood down for the weekend and a fair bit had been drunk by those remaining in the mess. The caller, who knew many of the blokes personally, ran through a load of complicated dance moves while the blokes balanced beer on their heads (spilling most of it), fondled the women and appeared to be taking not a blind bit of notice of us. When it came to doing the dances, we were all amazed that they could do them perfectly - much better than the usual uncoordinated, but sober(ish), punter. We put it down to the fact that they were the creme de la creme when it came to talking instructions on board and applying them to a dynamic spatial situation - even when P'd!
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Yep - Waino, lived and breathed with some of these people throughout my life. BiL (currently abroad - again) who is a fast jet pilot has an enormous capacity for drink, I remember - many years ago - coming home with him, both tired and very emtional, SWMBO who was driving stopped at the scene of a particularly nasty accident. BiL stepped out of the car as sober as the proverbial took total control of all the chaos we encountered, rendered a particularly grusome form of first aid. When we got back in the car promptly fell fast asleep, dunno how they do it......
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I always found that, when I was playing guitar in a band, I couldn't respond if somebody tried to talk to me............
that was the drugs waino me old junkie.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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that was the drugs waino me old junkie.>>
Which ones - indigestion or blood pressure? ;-)
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"This is why anyone caught texting whist driving should be shot."
A colleague of mine just lost her mother to such a driver.
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How can you text and drive, I can bearly do it standing or sitting still !
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How can you text and drive, I can bearly do it standing or sitting still !
Age thing, bet youre pushing 50as well.
I'm 47 and have to really concentrate, Bromptonette (14) can text while looking elsewhwere and conversing.
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It's not the video that cabsmanuk is referring to, but nevertheless it's still an observational one.
Can you spot the ghost trailing behind the car in the following clip? It will help if you turn up the volume on your pc beforehand.
tinyurl.com/6g4yv
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The gorilla story does not surprise me. Three times in 18 months I've nearly got a speeding ticket in Dunstable at the same place as a result of not having seen the 30 mph signs. They are placed where the roads joins a roundabout and my attention is focussed on the traffic on the roundabout, and the cars to either side. That really annoys me. I don't think it is a deliberate attempt to extort money from me, just bad sign posting. Surely the government bodies should know about this sort of thing?
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Surely the government bodies should knowabout this sort of thing?
Course they do. They do it on purpose just to catch you out :o)
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Course they do. They do it on purpose just to catch you out :o)
I prefer to attribute it to incompetence and underfunding rather than conspiracy theories. It's amazing how little can be achieved when governments focus their minds on something.
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Funny how the mind works - I can type quite quickly while having a conversation about something else entirely, yet when writing with a pen (something I rarely do) these days) I sometimes have to concentrate in order to avoid writing what I've just said/heard. When driving a familiar route I can chat in depth about complicated subjects, but when driving in unfamiliar territory with lots of one way streets, unfamiliar signage etc I often have to pause mid-sentence to make sure I don't mess up!
I can text without looking at the phone, but avoid it in the car ...
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andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ...
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Whilst driving I tell Her indoors and any other passengers to shut up basically, co's their twaddle, which it usually is, just detracts from the job in hand.
MD
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Bit oppressive MD? You can just stop listening when you need to.
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Bit oppressive MD? You can just stop listening when you need to.
Isnt that in the wedding vows?
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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It all depends on the degree of concentration required. I once tried 'recorded books' on my car tape player. I managed Stephen Fry's 'Moab is my washpot' without too much difficulty, but I couldn't handle Brian Keenan's 'Turlough' at all.
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I'm with Martin on this one.........driving through a part of London i'm unfamiliar with a month or so ago, had to tell SWMBO to call it quits...........she wasn't overly happy & took it personally ( I understand the nuptials are to be re-introduced shortly... 0:-) ) ..........but i needed to concentrate as the Tomtom was beeping at me, telling me about a speed camera and i was finding i was ignoring it.......speed was ok, but i didn't want to sneak up on that unwittingly and then end up with 3 points
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pmh's comment about the bus is a pretty good one. We're usually looking out for moving objects when driving, or even when walking. Parked cars are generally blanked out as we look down the road for moving vehicles. If someone is driving unusually slowly then they might not be noticed as a moving object and get blanked. The number of time I've been driving behind someone dawdling along way below the prevailing speed for the road and cars pulling out on them, and pedestrians stepping out in front of them and getting caught out. You basically have to drive fast enough to be noticed as a moving object, too slow and you become invisible. So even a bus can 'disappear' if it is moving too slowly as pmh experienced.
There is also a blind spot on the eye where the optic nerve joins, and objects can sometime disappear in the this too, if you are unlucky enough to glance at it briefly at the particular position.
If I'm getting distracted while driving the thing that goes out of the window with me is where I'm driving to. I end up going onto auto-pilot, which is fine if I'm going to my usual destination (e.g work); but can get a bit embarrassing if I'm supposed to be driving somewhere else using part of my work journey, and then carrying onto work. However, my general driving doesn't suffer, I'm still aware of what's around me, and still keep up with the pace and lane discipline. I suppose it depends on what is in the instinctive or automatic part of the brain and what is in the foreground of consciousness part of the brain (i.e stuff you are concentrating on).
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