![\"image\"](\"http:\/\/angryweasel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/image.png\" "\\"image\\"")
<\/a>yet all also seem to be frequently hyped beyond their value. The gorilla especially comes up among testers \u2013 many of whom overreact to the value of the video to software testing.<\/p>\nThe video shows that it\u2019s possible to miss something right in front of your eyes. The point<\/em> of the video is to show that it\u2019s possible to miss something that\u2019s right in front of your eyes.<\/p>\n IB makes you confront the illusion of attention<\/em>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n Knowing<\/em> about inattentional blindness doesn\u2019t make you better at noticing things, and there\u2019s zero correlation between the observational skills of those who see the gorilla vs. those who don\u2019t. While I agree that it\u2019s critical<\/em><\/strong> for testers to know that inattentional blindness exists, it\u2019s a small nugget of information in a pretty big pool of stuff that actually helps testers. Any knowledge work requires knowledge of IB \u2013 furthermore, I\u2019d argue that there are plenty <\/em>of professions where IB is much more critical to know about than in software testing.<\/p>\n For example:<\/p>\n And I\u2019m hard pressed to think of a profession where knowledge of IB isn\u2019t at least equal<\/em> to that of testing. My garbage man (sanitation engineer) needs to make sure he doesn\u2019t miss any cans, and ensure I\u2019m not throwing away anything illegal. Given that garbage collection is much more repetitive than anything I do from day to day, I\u2019d expect viewing the gorilla video to be standard training material for the guys in the big stinky truck (and for all I know, it is). The gorilla is fascinating \u2013 for everyone. There\u2019s no special appeal to testing that I can see.<\/p>\n Of course, beyond the video (which helped the people behind it earn many awards), Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons also wrote a book called, The Invisible Gorilla which discussed the vides and a ton of other really cool stuff<\/span> <\/strong>(stuff I find much more interesting than the gorilla video \u2013 especially when considered as a whole). I\u2019ve read the book twice, skimmed it several other times, and met the authors briefly after attending a talk they gave a year or so ago.<\/p>\n Some other cool topics covered include:<\/p>\n It\u2019s good stuff.<\/p>\n The Gorilla Stunt is good.<\/p>\n\n
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