Inattentional Blindness Essay

When it comes to perception of the world, every individual’s view of the world is highly subjective. In this essay, I will explore the theories of sensory adaptation, inattentional blindness and perceptual constancies, and how they collectively vary the perception of outside stimuli from one individual to another.
Exposure to certain stimuli for a relatively long period of time may lead to sensory adaption. Sensory adaptation occurs when the responsiveness to a stimulus reduces as the exposure to the stimuli becomes constant and prolonged. In layman terms, the sensory receptors “gets used to” the stimulus and stops significantly reacting to that particular constant stimuli. Aside from the constancy in the sensory input, any changes in incoming stimuli, for example, a loud crash in prolonged silence, or a flash of lightning in the dark night, would stand out. In other words, sensory adaptation keeps people tuned in to the changes rather than the constants in their sensory input (Weiten, W., 2002).
An example would be enjoying natural hot springs. The first step in the hot spring water would feel like a scald, and

In a study conducted to test the theory of inattentional blindness, research participants were asked to focus on three black-shirt-clad basketballers, and count the number of times the ball was passed. Midway through, a gorilla enters the scene and had a total screen time of nine seconds. Despite being conspicuous and in plain sight, 46% of research participants failed to notice the gorilla’s appearance. In the duration of the experiment, the participants focus was on the basketballers and as a result, the occurrence of inattentional blindness caused them to be unaware of the unexpected appearance of the gorilla in the scene. (Simons, Daniel J., and Christopher F. Chabris,