Today's life lesson: "When you're looking for a gorilla, you're likely to miss other unexpected events."
A dumbfounding study roughly a decade ago that many now find hard to believe revealed that if people are asked to focus on a video of other people passing basketballs, about half of watchers missed a person in a gorilla suit walking in and out of the scene thumping its chest.
Now research delving further into this effect shows that people who know that such a surprising event is likely to occur are no better at noticing other unforeseen events - and may even be worse at noticing them - than others who aren't expecting the unexpected.
When asked what words of wisdom they would give others, people frequently offer, "Always pay attention." Life goes by a lot faster than we think it does, so that's good advice, but it's hard to follow, isn't it? Our minds wander so easily -- and sometimes when they don't wander, it's a problem. Be caref
