Dataset Information

Now or never: noticing occurs early in sustained inattentional blindness.

ABSTRACT: People can show sustained inattentional blindness for unexpected objects visible for seconds or even minutes. Would such objects eventually be noticed given enough time, with the likelihood of noticing accumulating while the unexpected object is visible? Or, is there a narrow window around onset or offset when an object is most likely to be detected, with the chances of noticing dropping outside of that window? Across three experiments (total n's = 283, 756, 488) exploring the temporal dynamics of noticing in sustained inattentional blindness, subjects who noticed the unexpected object did so soon after it onset. Doubling or even tripling the time when the unexpected object was visible barely affected the likelihood of noticing it and had no impact on how accurately subjects reported its features. When people notice an unexpected object in these sustained inattentional blindness tasks, they do so soon after the unexpected object onsets.

SUBMITTER: Wood K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6894580 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Now or never: noticing occurs early in sustained inattentional blindness.

Wood Katherine K Simons Daniel J DJ

Royal Society open science 20191120 11

People can show sustained inattentional blindness for unexpected objects visible for seconds or even minutes. Would such objects eventually be noticed given enough time, with the likelihood of noticing accumulating while the unexpected object is visible? Or, is there a narrow window around onset or offset when an object is most likely to be detected, with the chances of noticing dropping outside of that window? Across three experiments (total <i>n</i>'s = 283, 756, 488) exploring the temporal dy ...[more]

PMID: 31827865

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Project description:BackgroundHuman factors are increasingly being recognised as vital components of safe surgical care. One such human cognitive factor: inattention blindness (IB), describes the inability to perceive objects despite being visible, typically when one's attention is focused on another task. This may contribute toward operative 'never-events' such as retained foreign objects and wrong-site surgery.MethodsAn 8-week, mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) programme, adapted for surgeons, was delivered virtually. Neurosurgical trainees and recent staff-appointees who completed the MBI were compared against a control group, matched in age, sex and grade. Attention and IB were tested using two operative videos. In each, participants were first instructed to focus on a specific part of the procedure and assessed (attention), then questioned on a separate but easily visible aspect within the operative field (inattention). If a participant were 'inattentionally blind' they would miss significant events occurring outside of their main focus. Median absolute error (MAE) scores were calculated for both attention and inattention. A generalised linear model was fitted for each, to determine the independent effect of mindfulness intervention on MAE.ResultsThirteen neurosurgeons completed the mindfulness training (age, 30 years [range 27-35]; female:male, 5:8), compared to 15 neurosurgeons in the control group (age, 30 years [27-42]; female:male, 6:9). There were no significant demographic differences between groups. MBI participants demonstrated no significant differences on attention tasks as compared to controls (t = -1.50, p = 0.14). For inattention tasks, neurosurgeons who completed the MBI had significantly less errors (t = -2.47, p = 0.02), after adjusting for participant level and video differences versus controls. We found that both groups significantly improved their inattention error rate between videos (t = -11.37, p < 0.0001). In spite of this, MBI participants still significantly outperformed controls in inattention MAE in the second video following post-hoc analysis (MWU = 137.5, p = 0.05).DiscussionNeurosurgeons who underwent an eight-week MBI had significantly reduced inattention blindness errors as compared to controls, suggesting mindfulness as a potential tool to increase vigilance and prevent operative mistakes. Our findings cautiously support further mindfulness evaluation and the implementation of these techniques within the neurosurgical training curriculum.

Dataset Information

Now or never: noticing occurs early in sustained inattentional blindness.

Publications

Now or never: noticing occurs early in sustained inattentional blindness.

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