Change Blindness
The failure to detect changes in a visual scene during a brief disruption.
🧐 What do you see?▼
The image flickers between two states. Somewhere in the scene, an orange square is shifting its position. Most people find it surprisingly difficult to identify exactly what is changing until they focus on the specific jumping element.
🧠 Why this works▼
We have the impression that we see everything in high resolution, but in reality, ourshort-term visual memory is very limited.
- Global Transients: Normally, a change causes a "flicker" that our motion-sensors pick up. Here, the grey "flash" creates a global transient that "swaps out" the local ones.
- Selective Attention: To see the change, you must be attending to the specific location where the change occurs at the moment it happens.
🧪 Try variations▼
- Speed: Lowering the speed increases the duration of the grey flash. Does a longer disruption make it harder or easier?
- Pause: Pause the illusion to see the two states frozen. This proves that the change is significant and obvious once the flicker is removed.
❓ FAQ▼
Is this related to Magic?
Absolutely. Magicians and pickpockets use "misdirection" (a form of controlled change blindness) to perform actions in plain sight while your attention is elsewhere.