On the Failure to Detect Changes in Scenes Across Brief Interruptions

When brief blank fields are placed between alternating displays of an original and a modified scene, a striking failure of perception is induced: the changes become extremely difficult to notice, even when they are large, presented repeatedly, and the observer expects them to occur (Rensink, ORegan, Clark, 1997). To determine the mechanisms behind this induced change blindness, four experiments examine its dependence on initial preview and on the nature of the interruptions used. Results support the proposal that representations at the early stages of visual processing are inherently volatile, and that focused attention is needed to stabilize them sufficiently to support the perception of change. Over the past few decades, evidence has been accumulating thatÑcontrary to our subjective impressionsÑwe do not have a coherent and detailed representation of the coherent and detailed world that surrounds us. For example, observers often find it difficult to detect changes in an image made during a saccade (e.g., Bridgeman, Hendry, Stark, 1975; Grimes, 1996; McConkie Zola, 1979). This indicates that the visual details of successive fixations cannot be added, compared, or otherwise combined. Indeed, all that can be carried across a saccade are a few properties of a few previously fixated items (Ballard, Hayhoe, Whitehead,