The Invisible Gorilla- Chapter 2

Main Ideas:
Chapter 2 of The Invisible Gorilla focuses on our memory, and its illusions. The disconnect between how we think memory works and how it actually works. We, as people, think that memories of all our experiences are stored permanently in our brains in immutable form, even if we can't access them. This chapter brings up some real life events in which the people involved, their illusion of memory reflects a basic contrast between what they thought they remembered, and what they actually remember. For example, a couple witnessed a murder and dialed 911. About a minute later they got on the line with an operator and were asked to portray the criminal. The wife exclaimed that the criminal was wearing sweatpants, while the husband was sure it was jeans. Even the offender's race  was an issue for the couple to settle on, while the wife was sure he was Hispanic, the husband was sure that the felon was black. What I learned from the examples listed in the chapter, is that memory depends both on what actually happened and on how we make sense of what happened. What is stored in memory is not an exact replica of reality, but a recreation of it. So every time we recall a memory, we integrate whatever details we do remember with our expectations for what we should remember.

Quotes:
I really enjoyed the section regarding how well people actually notice errors that occur in movies (such as actors wearing wristwatches in the show Spartacus). This phenomenon, the failure to notice seemingly obvious changes from one moment to the next, is known as "change blindness". People are 'blind' to the new changes between what was in view shortly before, and what is in view now. A very interesting quote I found in this chapter goes as follow, "Inattentional blindness usually happens when we fail to notice the appearance of something we weren't expecting to see. The thing we miss, such as a gorilla, is fully visible, right in front of us the entire time. For change blindness, unless we remember that Julia Roberts was eating a croissant, the fact that she is now eating a pancake is unremarkable. Change blindness occurs when we fail to compare what's there now with what was there before." (pg. 55) This quote is significant to me, because it really fascinates me. The fact that we don't notice something as obvious as Julia Roberts switching from eating a croissant to eating a pancake is amazing. How our brain isn't able to remember such a detail and not being able to recognize the change in scenery shows the extent of concentration the human brain can reach, which we didn't even know about!

Principles:
In this chapter, a very interesting element the authors used was interactions with the reader. The use of games and experiments the reader is able to try themselves is very important to further enhance the idea the authors are trying to get across. Plus the usage of experiments and real life situations is also really important to help the reader understand the science behind the idea of memory and its illusions. All this really helps the reader to relate back to the main idea of the book which is how our intuitions deceive us. The on hand experiences are especially important and help us understand and see the illusions of the brain and how they tend to deceive us.