Do YOU notice anything unusual in this video? If not, you might suffer from inattentional blindness

For many of us, hazard perception was one of the more fun and less nerve-wracking parts of the driving test.

But if spotting the unexpected doesn’t fall within your skillset, scientists warn you may experience ‘inattentional blindness’.

Researchers at New York University (NYU) have recreated the classic ‘invisible gorilla test’ from over 20 years ago in an effort to understand our capabilities.

More than 1,500 participants were shown unsuspecting footage of six people  throwing two basketballs between them.

While viewers were asked to simply count how many times those wearing white pass the ball, this was not the real test at all.

Instead, scientists were keen to know whether participants spotted the unexpected gorilla running through the crowd.

‘For decades, it’s been thought that when we’re intently focused on something relevant, like driving or playing a game, we fail to spot something that unexpectedly enters our field of vision, even if it is clearly visible and moving,’ said the lead author Pascal Wallisch, a clinical associate professor at New York University.

‘Our study questions the generality of this view because it shows that people, while focusing on a task, are quite capable of noticing unexpected objects that are moving quickly. However, our research confirms that we are indeed less adept at noticing these same objects when they are moving slowly.’

The phenomenon of inattentional blindness refers to an inability to notice unexpected objects when focused on a specific task. 

It’s largely perceived as a ‘cognitive deficit’ that has been previously cited as a reason why people at the scene of a crime may not have witnessed it.

NYU sought to learn more about the nature of this through various experiments, including a modernised version of the 1999 gorilla test.

This time, scientists examined whether gorilla speed changed the result – a condition that was not tested within the original experiment.

Meanwhile, 3,000 other participants were subjected to a different test with the same principles.

This involved counting how many random dots moved across a central line while an unexpected moving object (UMO) also went across the screen at various speeds.

In both studies it was clear that participants were likely to spot the gorilla or UMO when it was moving faster.

Researchers suggest this ability may be linked to our most primal instincts, with organisms more alert to fast-moving, attacking predators.

‘Our findings…contribute to the ongoing debate on the impact of physical salience on inattentional blindness, suggesting that it is fast speeds specifically, not the physical salience of a feature more generally, that captures attention,’ Professor Wallisch continued.

‘Fast-moving, unexpected objects seem to override the task focus of an organism. 

‘This will allow it to notice and react to the new potential threat, improving chances of survival.’