Change Blindness

Change blindness is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when a change in a visual stimulus goes unnoticed by the observer. For example, an individual fails to notice a difference between two images that are identical except for one change. The reasons these changes usually remain unnoticed by the observer include obstructions in the visual field, eye movements, a change of location, or a lack of attention. The brain regions that have been observed as active during change blindness are the prefrontal lobe, the fusiform face area, the pulvinar, the cerebellum, the inferior temporal gyrus, the parietal lobe, and the frontal lobe. A common method of testing change blindness is the flicker paradigm, in which a blank screen is presented in the middle of an image and an altered form of that image that may distract the perceiver's attention. Change blindness has become a highly researched topic due to newly discovered implications in practical applications such as eyewitness testimony and distractions while driving.