What does the Invisible Gorilla experiment illustrate?

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The question asks what the Invisible Gorilla experiment illustrates, so we need to evaluate each answer choice in light of the study's core finding.
Option a: 'People can be blind to the obvious and to their own blindness.' This aligns with the phenomenon demonstrated in the experiment, where participants focused on counting passes often failed to notice a gorilla walk through the scene, illustrating inattentional blindness and meta-blindness about one’s own limits. The statement captures both the obvious stimulus and the observer’s lack of awareness of missing it.
Option b: 'System 2 can process unlimited information simultaneously.' This is inaccurate in relation to the experiment. The study emphasizes the limits of attention and perception when attention is narrowly focused, not the claim that System 2 can handle unlimited information at once. It misrepresents cognitive architecture and the specific findings about attention.
Option c: 'System 1 is always accurate in detecting changes.' The experiment actually shows that System 1 can miss salient changes when attention is elsewhere, so claiming it is always accurate contradicts the observed inattentional blindness and the documented biases of rapid, automatic processing.
Option d: 'Attention does not affect perception.' This directly contradicts the core result. The Gorilla study demonstrates that where attention is directed profoundly shapes what is perceived, showing that attention modulates perception rather than being irrelevant.
Option e: 'System 1 and System 2 never interact.' The study implies that attention and perception involve interactions between different cognitive processes; the idea that they never interact is inconsistent with contemporary understanding of cognitive architecture and is not what the experiment demonstrates.
In summary, option a accurately reflects the key takeaway about being blind to both the obvious stimulus and one’s own blindness, while options b, c, d, and e misstate or misinterpret the findings about attention, perception, and cognitive systems.

CCST9086_1A_2025 Quiz4

What does the Invisible Gorilla experiment illustrate?

View Explanation

Log in for full answers

Similar Questions

Question at position 7 ________ refers to the failure of a person to detect unexpected events when he or she is focused on another task.Parallel processingSubliminal perceptionInattentional blindnessTop-down processing

Which of the following illustrates how we can miss things even if they are clearly visible?

A recent study found that radiologists would often fail to notice an image of a gorilla in x-rays they were asked to analyze. This demonstrates the phenomenon known as

Failure to see an object we are looking at directly because our attention is directed elsewhere is called ___.

Failure to see an object we are looking at directly because our attention is directed elsewhere is called ___.

In a consumer society, many adults channel creativity into buying things

More Practical Tools for Students Powered by AI Study Helper

Homework AI Solver

Stylized AI Paper Writer

Plagiarism Checker Assistant

Citation AI Academic Writing Tool

In-Class Translation Assistant

AI Note Generator

AI Quiz Answers

Past Exam Questions from University Test Bank

Smart Practice Assistant

Adaptive Practice

Making Your Study Simpler