Invisible gorillas are all around; do you see them?
Invisible Gorilla Word Picture
My world has been intently focused lately on completing Get Back Jack and I’m pleased to say we’re on track for a September release, publishing gods willing. What I know for sure is that much has been going on in the world while I’ve been sticking my nose to the keyboard.
Wives say their husbands have “selective hearing.” Mom’s say kids need “concentration.” Teachers encourage us to “focus.”
But scientists call this fascinating bit of brain science “inattentional blindness.” They mean we see what we focus on and we’re literally blind to the rest. The Wall Street Journal reported a new study last week: The Gorilla Lurking Where We Can’t See It.
While writing Get Back Jack, invisible gorillas carried on around me every day. Friends celebrated milestones, family enjoyed each other, social opportunities passed me by — and I didn’t even see them. You remember the invisible gorilla, don’t you? (Click Here to read the original post.)
What we learned about focus and attention is that multi-tasking is a humbug. The human brain can only effectively focus on one thing at a time. Magicians and novelists know this and we use it to bring you a surprising story. We focus on some things and hope you don’t notice what’s going on behind the curtain.
The Invisible Gorilla Experiment proved that the more our focused attention is required, the less attention we have for distractions. Take a look and tell me in the comments, do you see the gorillas all around us?
While I’ve been working, what invisible gorillas, have been going on in your world?
As always, thanks for reading!
Interesting
Guess we all have gorillas of some sort
I agree, Lady Bren. What are a few of yours?
Hi, Diane. I’m poking my head out of my writing cave for a few minutes. Gorillas where? Yup. Lots of stuff slides past me while I focus (my husband calls it obsessing) on the current writing project. Glad we both popped up at the same time so we can at least say Hi!
Good to see you here, Lynette! How’s the writing, er obsessing, going? 🙂