31/05/2026
You Can Look Directly at a Gorilla and Be Completely Blind to It
This is called inattentional blindness (failing to notice an unexpected stimulus because your attention is engaged elsewhere).
In a famous Harvard study, researchers asked participants to count how many times a team wearing white basketball shirts passed a ball. Halfway through the video, a person in a full gorilla suit walked into the middle of the court, beat their chest, and walked off.
Because their brains were working so hard counting the passes, roughly 50% of people missed the gorilla entirely. When told about it, many refused to believe it until they watched the video a second time without counting.
