Motion Induced Blindness

[335th_GRAthos]

Ok, I have been waiting for Raaaid to post something like this but I gave up so, here it is:


Motion Induced Blindness applies to everyone, not just pilots, as we all spend time driving at night and the same concepts apply here! Scan, scan, scan...! .
It works exactly like it says, and is one major reason people in cars can 'look right at you'
(when you're on a motorcycle or bicycle)---AND NOT SEE YOU.


From a former Naval Aviator:

This is a great illustration of what we were taught about scanning outside the cockpit when I went through training back in the '50s.

We were told to scan the horizon for a short distance, stop momentarily, and repeat the process.

I can remember being told why this was the most effective technique to locate other aircraft. It was emphasized (repeatedly) to NOT fix your gaze for more than a couple of seconds on any single object. The instructors, some of whom were WWII veterans with years of experience, instructed us to continually "keep our eyes moving and our head on a swivel" because this was the best way to survive, not only in combat, but from peacetime hazards (like a midair collision) as well.

We basically had to take the advice on faith (until we could experience for ourselves)
because the technology to demonstrate it didn't exist at that time.


Motion Induced Blindness - demonstration-------
What to see
Click on the link below and you will see a rotating array of blue crosses and 3 yellow dots. Now fixate on the centre (watch the flashing green spot). Note that the yellow spots disappear once in a while: singly, in pairs or all three simultaneously. In reality, the 3 yellow spots are continuously present, honest!

http://www.msf-usa.org/motion.html


What to do
You can use the slower/faster buttons to change speed. Disappearance persists down to surprisingly low speeds. [If there are no buttons on the right, please update your Flash player.]

You can use the larger/smaller buttons to change size. Disappearance persists up to surprisingly large sizes.

You can use the “back-col” button to change the background colour. The yellow dots disappear into whatever colour the background has.

The ‘defaults’ button at the top restores the standard settings.

Comment
According to Michael Bach, "Steady fixation favours disappearance, blinks or gaze shifts induce reappearance. All in all reminiscent of the Troxler effect, but stronger and more resistant to residual eye movements."


Source
This page provided by Prof. Michael Bach PhD, Ophthalmology, University of Freiburg, Germany, from his collection of Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena.


~S~

PS. The moral of the story: Do not look too hard for the patch, it may be in front of you but you may still not see it....