Are you blind or just not paying attention?! How could you NOT SEE that airplane?!
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1
Department of Psychological Science, School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Australia
Inattention Blindness (IB) occurs when observers focus on primary visual targets and therefore fail to detect unexpected visual stimuli. For example, when pilots are attending to the control panel and fail to detect another plane full of passengers already on the landing strip. IB can occur up to 75% of the time depending on how similar the unexpected stimulus is to the targets and where the distractor appears on the screen. Research into cognitive processes that subserve IB, also indicates a correlation with working memory capacity (WMC), but whether it is positive or negative remains unclear. The link between IB and the ability to resist distraction by visual, non-target stimuli, and motivational attitudes (Behavioural Inhibition/Activation (BIS/BAS)) that may affect attention have also only been partially investigated. The current study included customised tests of visual attention and WMC, and the BIS/BAS to tease apart how they relate to IB. Participants were 152 adults tested online. Those who experienced IB (n=112) were expected to score lower on visual WMC and attention than those who did not experience IB. Although related to some attention tasks, BIS/BAS scores were not expected to affect IB. Accounting for age, a MANCOVA revealed for the first time that participants who experienced IB reported higher BAS-Reward-Responsiveness but no other variable differed across IB groups. Distractor location also had no effect on detection. Conclusion: In contrast with most prior studies, these finding suggest that the IB phenomenon may not be explained by individual differences in visual attention or working memory.
Keywords:
working memory capacity,
inattention blindness,
Attention,
inhibition,
BIS/BAS
Conference:
15th Annual Psychology Honours Research Conference , Coffs Harbour, Australia, 4 Oct - 5 Oct, 2018.
Presentation Type:
Research
Topic:
Abstract for 15th Annual Psychology Honours Research Conference
Citation:
Rodrigues
C and
Donnelly
JF
(2019). Are you blind or just not paying attention?! How could you NOT SEE that airplane?!.
Front. Psychol.
Conference Abstract:
15th Annual Psychology Honours Research Conference .
doi: 10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2018.74.00032
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Received:
18 Sep 2018;
Published Online:
27 Sep 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Miss. Catarina Rodrigues, Department of Psychological Science, School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour, Australia, c.rodrigues.13@student.scu.edu.au