This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
(Ed. note: This post previously appeared on our Sleights of Mind Blog)
Change blindness, our failure to detect changes in a scene that should have been (but weren't) obvious, is a common occurrence not only on the magic stage, but it in real life, too.
The San Francisco Exploratorium has now produced a spectacular demonstration of cumulative change blindness. Unnoticed changes pile up on a San Francisco street scene during brief blinks, until there is nothing left of the original picture.
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Play the video below and try to detect the changes. Then, play it again but this time grab the playhead with your mouse and stop every little while to see each change.
Blink. Did Anything Change? By Kenneth Chang: First, play the video to see if you notice any changes. Then, play it again, but this time grab the playhead with your mouse and scrub through the video to see all of the changes.
Also, check out Sleights of Mindfor more spectacular examples of magical and everyday change blindness.
Have you experienced change blindness in real life? Post a comment here and let us know.