Dude
Drew wondered if somehow being so well-trained in searching would make them immune to missing large hairy gorillas. “You might expect that because they’re experts, they would notice if something unusual was there,” he says.
And so he took a picture of a man in gorilla suit shaking his fist, and he superimposed that image on a series of slides that radiologists typically look at when they’re searching for cancer. He then asked a bunch of radiologists to review the slides of lungs for cancerous nodules. He wanted to see if they would notice a gorilla the size of a matchbook glaring angrily at them from inside the slide.
But they didn’t: 83 percent of the radiologists missed it, Drew says.










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Perhaps it’s more a case of being trained to focus on certain parameters only.
OldEnglish on February 11, 2013 at 10:49 PM
Well, the good news, Ms Johnson, is that you don’t have cancer.
Unfortunately, there is a gorilla in your midsection….
ProfShadow on February 11, 2013 at 11:11 PM
Obligatory video
Shy Guy on February 11, 2013 at 11:20 PM
Somehow, this observation about observation is going to be used as an excuse for liberals when our society burns down under their influence and as an indictment of conservatives as part of a plot. Liberals are always looking for an excuse, as we all know, when Democrats constantly blame a difference of opinion on nefarious Republican motives.
.
But, no matter, L.i.B.
ExpressoBold on February 11, 2013 at 11:54 PM
That’s why so many scientific conclusions are unreliable. Most scientists filter everything through their preconceived notions of what should be there. Any contradictory evidence goes unseen, ignored, or explained away.
The Rogue Tomato on February 12, 2013 at 12:26 AM
Not surprised. Research indicates that if you are preoccupied with a task you miss obvious details because you simply are not looking for them. It’s the way our brains are wired. If you don’t like it, take it up with the designer.
Browncoatone on February 12, 2013 at 1:12 AM
I didn’t notice the guy in the gorilla suit the first time I counted passes in the video. In fact, I refused to believe that he really came through the scene–until I watched it the second time. Of my team at work, 2/3 also missed him. Those that saw him lost count.
Here is the exact same phenomenon resulting in 101 dead.
hungrymongo on February 12, 2013 at 7:12 AM
This is maybe why they think profiling for terrorists wouldn’t work. The security is so focused on what a terrorist should look like that they let an obvious one through. Then agian I may have no clue what I talking about.
Dr. Frank Enstine on February 12, 2013 at 8:26 AM
You can’t monkey around with the results.
rbj on February 12, 2013 at 9:27 AM