WWU's Ira Hyman to present Turning Points lecture on 'inattentional blindness' Oct. 20

Ira Hyman, a professor of Psychology at Western Washington University, will present “Unicycling Clowns, Train Wrecks, and Pilots Forgetting to Land: Adventures in Inattentional Blindness” at WWU’s Turning Points Faculty Lecture series at 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 20, in Communications Facility 110.

This is the first Turning Points lecture of the season.

Through his studies, Hyman has found many unimaginable things that could happen to anyone while being distracted. He proves just how oblivious people really are with today’s new technology at their fingertips.

“A woman falls down an open manhole while talking on her cell phone. A train operator misses the signals and causes an accident while texting. When people become oblivious to the world, they make potentially disastrous mistakes,” said Hyman. “For example, if a clown unicycled past while you were walking, you’d notice wouldn’t you? If you were talking on your cell phone you probably would not notice. These are all examples of Inattentional Blindness—times when people are focused on one activity and fail to notice something that may pass directly in front of them.”

“One of the most dangerous aspects of cell phone divided attention is that affected individuals remain oblivious to their poor performance. When people are shown what they’ve missed because of Inattentional Blindness, they are surprised that they could have missed it,” said Hyman.

Hyman’s published research includes studies on memory for song lyrics, the creation of false childhood memories, collaborative remembering, memory of traumatic events, and inattentional blindness towards unicycling clowns. He is the co-editor, along with Ulric Neisser, of “Memory Observed: Remembering in Natural Contexts,” and is a regular contributor to the Psychology Today website through his blog, “Mental Mishaps.” He received his bachelor’s degree from Duke University and his doctorate from Emory University.

For more information about the Turning Points Series faculty speaker series call (360) 650-7545 or visit http://www.wwu.edu/turningpoints/. For those attending Turning Points faculty lectures, no parking permit is required to park after 5 p.m. in the gravel lots 12A and the C lots south of the Communications Facility, near Fairhaven College. Parking meters require payment all hours.