Monday, March 08, 2010

Perception blindness

I wasn't sure whether it's the onset of old age or whether I'm experiencing early signs of alzheimers disease so I did some research on the net to find out.
I have had issues with short term memory recently so dug a bit deeper and found a site listing the ten signs of early onset of alzheimers. It was a relief to find that I only exhibited two of those signs. I guess when there is a history of the disease in the family it makes you aware of the possibilities of inheritance of that disease.
Still, I have other problems that made me look into something I described as "perception blindness" ; being when I'm looking for something and that something is staring at me in the face and I just don't see it. A very disturbing feeling if you've ever experience it.
What I found is that "perception blindness" is a recognized scientific condition and not just a term I came up with to describe my problem.
On this site is a very amusing exercise by video which point out this problem but unfortunately doesn't offer much explanation to the nature of the problem or whether it's something I should worry about.
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8 comments:

Jeannie said...

Looks to me like half of us have the same problem if you consider it a problem. It may simply be a matter of one's ability to focus. Some can block out the world to perform a task very well while others are aware of the big picture. Both are needed. Both can be positives or negatives. Can you get into the zone to complete a complex task? Or can you keep a superficial view of everything going on? There should have been a survey to see which people performed the task given correctly - did they see the gorilla? Or was it those easily distracted who saw it?
I confess that I saw a difference in "dark" but stayed on task. I expected that there would be a distraction and I would not allow it. Is that blind? Or focused?

9:04 am
Lexcen said...

Jeannie, I'd like to believe what you say and consider myself over focused rather than perceptually blind.

11:07 am
Lexcen said...

Jeannie, you might find this podcast on blindsight interesting
http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2010/02/pze_20100227.mp3

12:29 pm
Anonymous said...

I didn't see it, either. I did notice a change in the level of dark in the room, like Jeanie mentioned, but didn't take my eyes off the ball.
I often overlook what's right in front of me.

6:08 pm
(((Thought Criminal))) said...

Sometimes I pat myself down looking for my car keys when they're in my hand.

When I realize they're in my hand I'm like "Have youy seen my keys? They look just like these."

6:31 pm
Lexcen said...

I've also, on the odd occasion run around looking for my glasses only to realize I'm wearing them.

7:38 am
AZ said...

Significant other had issues with his memory, so much so that he got tested for Alzheimer’s. He was told that there is no sign of Alzheimer’s, and that his short term memory loss is just a sign of aging. I think we'd all like to think that the onset of memory problems would occur at 89, and not in our 60s. I'm training myself to always put things in their proper place thereby eliminating the search for lost items, but I still find myself searching for things I just had a second ago. Oh, I almost forgot, I never saw the gorilla!

6:45 pm
Lexcen said...

AZ, I'd place you on my list of friends except you don't have a blog.

7:19 pm

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