Bao was driving home after class, and at the same time was chatting on his cell phone with a classmate. The two were commiserating over how difficult that afternoon’s test was, when suddenly Bao’s car was struck on the side by another vehicle. It turns out that Bao was so engrossed in conversation that he failed to notice that his traffic light had turned red. His focus on his conversation caused him to experience __ to the traffic signal. A. change blindness B. endogenous attention C. just-noticeable difference D. sensory adaptation
The correct answer and explanation is:
The correct answer is A. change blindness.
Explanation:
Change blindness refers to the phenomenon where a person fails to notice significant changes in their visual environment, especially when their attention is focused elsewhere. In Bao’s case, his attention was absorbed in his conversation on the cell phone, so he failed to notice the change in the traffic signal from green to red. This is an example of change blindness because the key event (the red light) occurred right in front of him, but he didn’t register it due to his divided attention.
This can be compared to other phenomena like endogenous attention, where an individual’s attention is driven by internal goals or intentions (such as focusing on the test content in Bao’s case). However, Bao’s attention was distracted by the phone call rather than being purposefully directed elsewhere, making endogenous attention less fitting.
Just-noticeable difference (JND) refers to the minimum amount of change in a stimulus that a person can detect. This doesn’t apply here, as Bao didn’t fail to detect a subtle change in a stimulus but rather missed a significant change altogether.
Sensory adaptation involves a decrease in sensitivity to a constant stimulus over time, like how someone might stop noticing a sound or smell after being exposed to it for a while. However, Bao’s failure to notice the red light was not due to sensory adaptation but because he wasn’t paying attention to the light in the first place.
Thus, change blindness is the most appropriate explanation for Bao’s failure to notice the traffic signal change.