Visual acumen test

[Nawd]

I'm a Scorpio too, but also 'followed the directions,' even though that isn't normally in my nature. I figured the makers of the video had no further agenda than to see if we could follow along a lot of movement and still count the passes. Opps!

The first time I saw this test was in a commercial at the cinema. The video was different, and the gorilla even stopped in the centre to do a few dance steps. I counted all the passes correctly, and when the video was slowed down and played again I turned to my partner and asked: "Are they faking it? There was no gorilla before was there?" and he answered: "there sure was, I stopped counting because I got distracted with the gorilla." It seemed so blatantly obvious that I nearly didn't believe it had been there before!

This time, sure enough I saw the gorilla but completely missed the player leaving and the curtain changing colour :D Talk about seeing things the way you expect to see them...

I think it has to do with the mindset one is in as SAO mentioned, but also with one's natural type of tendency in filtering information. The brain is bombarded with an immense amount of information that we aren't really able to process, at least not in our current state of being, so we select.
When I walk down the street with my partner for example, each of us will come up with very distinct perceptions, he'll more easily notice particularities within the buildings, the street itself, whilst my senses are more naturally tuned to the people walking in the street. And time and time again when discussing the same event I come to the conclusion that I miss a lot of things he doesn't, but he also misses a lot of things I don't. We simply notice different things.

Other than being superhuman, it seems networking is the only solution. Everybody feeling different parts of the same elephant, sharing what they see/feel, and everybody becomes aware not only of the whole elephant, but the smaller details that matter, like that he may have a wound on one side of his body or something, which is like counting the number of passes, which is something that may not even occur to someone but would to someone else who is focusing on that particular thing.

It is also how I see it.


ADDED:

Ark, on the other hand, saw the gorilla because he knew something was up, he's a Scorpio and didn't trust the instructions.

I'm also a Scorpio, but in my case I just sheepishly complied with the instructions

 

[Leo40]

This discussion about perception reminds me of my experience in TV broadcasting.
For many years I was colour-matching monitors and cameras.
Then one day they had me perform a standard colour test, the one with all the dots
where you are supposed to see numbers or letters.
I couldn't see any!
Therefore I am "officially" colour blind.
Who can explain this?

 

[Guardian]

Dang it! I counted the correct number of passes, missed the gorilla AND the curtain changing colors!!!

LOL...I did just the opposite, as soon as the gorilla swapped places with the girl, and the curtain and floor changed colors... I forgot I was supposed to be counting :P

 

[Jacques]

I got the correct number of passes, saw the gorilla switch out for one of the people with the black shirt but completely missed the color change...

Same thing for me.

 

[Alana]

Dang it! I counted the correct number of passes, missed the gorilla AND the curtain changing colors!!!

LOL...I did just the opposite, as soon as the gorilla swapped places with the girl, and the curtain and floor changed colors... I forgot I was supposed to be counting :P

Almost same here. I did see the gorilla, then i perceived that something changed but i was not sure what, and both of these made me forget that i was counting

 

[istina]

Dang it! I counted the correct number of passes, missed the gorilla AND the curtain changing colors!!!

LOL...I did just the opposite, as soon as the gorilla swapped places with the girl, and the curtain and floor changed colors... I forgot I was supposed to be counting :P

Almost same here. I did see the gorilla, then i perceived that something changed but i was not sure what, and both of these made me forget that i was counting

Same as Alana :P

 

[987baz]

thanks for posting SAO, interesting little perception test...

I saw the gorilla, counted the passes correctly, missed the colour change of the curtain and the player swapping out. I think I saw the gorilla because I was expecting there to be more to the test than just counting passes....

 

[Aliana]

Thanks for posting that SAO - it was a very interesting test of perception. I was so focused on counting that I completely missed the Gorilla, the curtain changing and the person leaving. It never occurred to me that there was any other agenda than trying to count. And I have Scorpio on the Ascendant - guess it doesn't count!

When I watched the video again, I was shocked that I could have missed all of that the first time. It’s a VERY good lesson in paying attention. I thought I was good at seeing things; I am a visual person and generally do see a lot of things - but now I think that I mostly see what I am looking for or what I am attuned to. It makes me wonder about all the things around me that I am completely missing on a daily basis.

And it is a good lesson in networking - because we all have abilities to see certain things and yet miss many others. Having many people looking at life and reporting back gives us all much better vision.

 

[sitta]

Almost same here. I did see the gorilla, then i perceived that something changed but i was not sure what, and both of these made me forget that i was counting

Similarly in my case. Saw the gorilla and percived that something changed, was not sure what, went back to counting and ended with correct mumber of passes. :P

 

[Seamus]

The gorilla coming on screen totally distracted me from counting, but I got interrupted right after he walked on by someone else in my office. When I watched it the second time I knew he was there and really concentrated on counting the number of passes because I thought the trick would relate to "secret" ball passes or something like that. I missed the curtain color change and the black player leaving the game.

 

[ocean59]

What a cool experiment! I got the number of passes correct, but was not consciously aware of the gorilla. After it was pointed out, it was not totally unfamiliar to me - I had remembered seeing/feeling "something" out of place, but wasn't sure exactly what. Still pretty shocking to see just how big a "something" it was though! And I totally missed the color change, actor leaving set.

I think what would be really interesting would be to repeat the first half of the video, and then present the viewer with a quiz:

1.) How many passes did the white players make?
2.) How many passes did the black players make?
3.) Choose the first color that comes to your mind on this list (list of colors)
4.) Choose the first animal that comes to your mind on this list (list of animals)

THEN, play the second half of the video to explain why you thought you randomly chose "gorilla" LOL

Good find!

 

[GAIA]

Well that was interesting! I counted wrong, noticed the gorilla and change in backround but didn't see the change in players.

So that brings up a few questions in my mind - can we observe something without a goal in mind? What is the difference between a goal while observing/doing something, and anticipation? It seems that no matter how much on the lookout we are, we're going to miss some stuff, and that's why networking is so crucial. Someone will notice the gorilla, someone else will notice the person leaving, and someone else will notice the curtain color change - and by networking and sharing, together we notice all those things!

You're absolutely right! It was a perfect little sample to show how we can see all if we network!

 

[Evey]

I counted the correct number of passes and saw the gorilla but missed everything else. I was too busy
counting. I'm a scorpio too and following directions is always a curly one for me..Oopsi..

 

[stellar]

I counted the passes at 15/16 because I got distracted by the gorilla and the curtain colour change but I did not see the black team member leave.
Neat exercise, I thought.

 

[Ollie]

Dang it! I counted the correct number of passes, missed the gorilla AND the curtain changing colors!!!

LOL...I did just the opposite, as soon as the gorilla swapped places with the girl, and the curtain and floor changed colors... I forgot I was supposed to be counting :P

Almost same here. I did see the gorilla, then i perceived that something changed but i was not sure what, and both of these made me forget that i was counting

Same as Alana :P

Same here too!!!