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Change Blindness

Change blindness is a psychological phenomenon where an observer fails to notice significant changes in a visual scene, especially when those changes occur gradually or are obscured by a visual disruption. This occurs because the human brain prioritizes overall scene perception rather than detecting every small detail.

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Introduction

Key Characteristics of Change Blindness:

  • Occurs when attention is distracted or focused elsewhere.
  • More likely when changes happen gradually or are masked by a visual interruption (e.g., a flicker or eye movement).
  • Shows limitations in human perception and how we process visual information.

Explanation

Common Causes of Change Blindness:

  1. Disruptions in Vision:
    • Eye movements (saccades), blinks, or screen flickers can make changes harder to detect.
       
  2. Limited Attention:
    • People tend to focus on key aspects of a scene, missing details outside their attention area.
       
  3. Expectation Bias:
    • If a change is unexpected, it is less likely to be noticed.

Examples

Change Blindness in Cartography & GIS:

  • Map Design Considerations: Sudden changes in maps (e.g., updates in road networks or land use) may go unnoticed if not highlighted properly.
  • Animated Maps: Slow transitions between time-series maps can lead to unnoticed differences unless designed with contrast or markers.

Other examples of Change Blindness:

  • In Films: A character’s outfit or background changes between cuts without the audience noticing (continuity errors).
  • In Driving: A driver may fail to notice a pedestrian stepping onto the road after looking away momentarily.
  • In Everyday Life: Someone rearranges objects in a room, but another person does not notice the change.

Outgoing relations