Blink Quote by Stanislas Dehaene
““A stream of symbols appears at the same location on a computer screen. Most of the symbols are digits, but some are letters, which the participant is told to remember. The first letter is easily remembered. If a second letter occurs half a second or more after the first, it too is accurately committed to memory. If the two letters appear in close succession, however, the second one is often completely missed. The viewer reports seeing only one letter and is quite surprised to learn that there were two of them. The very act of attending to the first letter creates a temporary "blink of the mind" that annihilates the perception of the second.””
About This Quote
Source Research article: Visual Attention and Temporal Perception, 2011
Attending to a first stimulus creates a brief blind spot, causing later stimuli to be missed.
In simple terms: Focusing on one thing can blind you to the next.
Key Takeaway
Be aware of attentional blind spots.
Themes
attention
perception
memory
temporal processing
Mood
cautious
analytical
Type
scientific
educational
When to use this quote
- driving
- reading
- air traffic control
- learning new skills
Key Concepts
cognitive neuroscience
blink of attention
working memory
Questions to Reflect On
- How can we train to reduce attentional blink?
- What tasks are most vulnerable to this effect?
A Different Perspective
Attention limits can cause critical information loss.
