Change blindness and fearsome objects

Abstract

Purpose: A number of questions remain unanswered regarding the mechanisms involved in change blindness (CB). Does affective significance of an object affect CB, what effect does the recall task have on CB, and can CB be distinguished from object blindness (OB), where object blindness is defined as simply not detecting, storing, or recalling the object? This study sought to answer these questions. Methods: 32 subjects participated in a real world interaction involving multiple objects. Objects were replaced by a confederate, while the subject was not observing. Independent variables included the fearsomeness of the object, the replacement type (fearsome=[[gt]]fearsome, fearsome=[[gt]]neutral, neutral=[[gt]]fearsome, neutral=[[gt]]neutral), and recall task (verbal vs. behavioral). Frequency of CB, OB, temporal reordering on recall, and correct change perception were measured. Results: We found the following main effects (no interactions): Replacement type and fearsomeness have effects on OB but not CB, recall task has an effect on both OB and CB. A post hoc test showed that the total amount of fearsomeness was more important than a change of fearsomeness status. Temporal reordering proved to be very rare. Conclusions: These results suggest a number of interesting conclusions. OB appears to be distinguishable from CB, in that pure CB is primarily a function of recall, whereas attentional manipulations affect OB. A change in fearsomeness status should generate attention. However, change in fearsomeness appears to be less important than overall fearsomeness. Finally, the rarity of temporal reordering suggests that CB is due to assumptions of constancy during recall rather than temporal uncertainty.