Did you know that our brain regularly fills in for missing information, much of the time without us even knowing that this is going on? It’s one of the amazing abilities of our brain, often referred to as “filling in the blanks.”
According to the research done recently by Redboubd University in Nederland, “at any given moment, we are only seeing 10% of what we think we are seeing. That means the other 90% of what appears in our visual field is being “generated” by our brain. Some of that infill is being drawn from memory, and some of it is being drawn from other sensory experiences.“
The theory assumes that the brain does not simply process or filter external information, but actively interprets it.
We do it all the time; we see something or somebody, and we already know what it means, who they are, what their intentions might be. We know, because we filled in the blanks without even doubting it for a moment. It is OK, or harmless for the most part (not counting some funny misunderstandings or minor mishaps). It is actually quite useful in some circumstances when survival depends on quick decisions about fight or flight. However, it could be disastrous if we make important life decisions based on the 10% of actual information we have.
Imagine meeting someone for the first time. You get immediately attracted to them and very soon decide to spend your life with the person. You build a picture of this person based on what you “filled in the blanks” (all 90% of it).
How accurate is it? No wonder you ask yourself months or years from the initial meeting “how could I be so blind”, “why didn’t I see them for who they really are?”
You didn’t see, because you used your brain’s little shortcut.
We see what we want to see, we believe in what we want to believe. We tend to overlook the obvious warning signs and focus on “wishful seeing”, and “wishful thinking”. Especially, when we feel attracted to someone.
There is a famous “Monkey Business Illusion” experiment done years ago by Harvard University that explored our “selective attention” ability. You might have heard of it; it is one of the best known and publicized psychology experiments ever.
The participants of the study were asked to watch a short video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo) in which six people-three in white shirts and three in black shirts-pass basketballs around. They were instructed to keep a silent count of the number of passes made by the people in white shirts. At some point of the video, a gorilla walks into the middle of the court, thumps its chest, and then leaves, spending nine seconds on screen.
Half of the people who watched the video and counted the basketball passes missed the gorilla. It was as though the gorilla was invisible.
I often wonder how many “gorillas” I miss every day being busy with my regular routine; how many different opportunities to see the things for what they are?
If you add to it the previously described “filling in the blanks” ability, how accurate is the world we experience?
So, what can we do about it? I believe our awareness of those brain phenomenons can change things significantly. If I remember that what I perceive as truth is merely an illusion of my brain, I may pay more attention to the world around me. I may be more curious, more observant, more perceptive to other’s point of view. I may ask questions before I assume that I know what the other person says, thinks, feels. I may make an effort to understand what the specific behaviour means and says about the person rather than jumping to conclusions.
I may accept that I am not always right and sometimes I miss a gorilla in the picture.
Blog by Eva Sadowski Photo by Aleksandar Pasaric from Pexels
Leave a Reply