Picture this: You step into the subway, settle into a seat and begin scrolling through emails, articles and notifications on your phone. When you look up, you realize you’ve missed your stop. Essentially, the activities happening on your little screen consumed so much attention that you became oblivious to your surroundings. Experiences like this happen all the time and reveal how we can miss obvious, often important, things that are right in front of us. Perhaps the best-known example of this is an experiment by psychologists Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, published in 1999. Subjects were asked to watch a video in which six basketball players in white and black T-shirts passed around a ball. They were instructed to count the number of passes made by those wearing white. At one point, a woman in a gorilla suit walks through the players, faces the camera and thumps her chest before sauntering off the court. This story is from Kinfolk Issue Twenty-Seven Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 51 Emily Gernild The Danish painter breathing new life into an old medium. Arts & Culture Food Issue 51 Imogen Kwok The artist takes food styling quite literally, creating accessories out of fruits and vegetables. Arts & Culture Design Issue 51 How to Make a Chair And do it on a tiny budget. Arts & Culture Issue 51 Odd Jobs The comedian with strong opinions about your home décor. Arts & Culture Issue 51 Tall Order The hidden depths of height. Arts & Culture Films Issue 51 Vicky Krieps An interview with the actor.
Arts & Culture Food Issue 51 Imogen Kwok The artist takes food styling quite literally, creating accessories out of fruits and vegetables.
