Exercise - Focus and multi-tasking
It's a well know statement that "you get what you measure". But what does that really mean?
Here is a good exercise to see how different people cope with multitasking and focus. It's a well known demonstration by Daniel J Simons, that you can come back to again in future on You Tube. Even if you've seen it before, it's worthwhile watching again, and seeing how you and other people do.
Before it plays, ask:
-
Count how many times the white players pass the ball.
-
Stop at 40 seconds, just before the last player leaves the court.
Ask
-
how many passes? (correct answer is 16)
-
then ask:
-
how many times did the gorilla hit his chest?
-
Then ask how many people noticed the gorilla?
-
Did it walk left to right, or right to left?
Congratulate those that saw the gorilla, have they seen the video before?
Then move the video forward so that it shows the answer, 16 and allow it to roll forward to 54 seconds.
Now ask:
-
How many players in black T-shirts were there? (Did anyone notice that, it started as 3, and one player left, whilst the gorilla was walking across?)
-
What colour was the background curtain?
-
(Did anyone notice that it was red to start with, but changed to orange? If you followed the above instructions, it will have been orange all the time whilst you asked about how many passes and how many times the gorilla hit is chest).
More info is available at www.theinvisiblegorilla.com