Why You Didn’t See It Coming

10/21/2015

This Nautilus article examines the concept of "perceptual blindness" and explores why people often fail to anticipate or see certain events coming. It highlights the limitations of human perception, attention, and cognitive biases that can prevent us from noticing important information or clues that could have helped us predict certain outcomes. The article discusses various examples and studies that illustrate instances of perceptual blindness, such as in the field of aviation, finance, and everyday life. It argues that our brains are constantly filtering and selecting information, and this filtering process can sometimes lead to oversights and missed opportunities. Ultimately, the article emphasizes the importance of being aware of our cognitive limitations and biases in order to improve our ability to anticipate and adapt to future events.

predictability ꞏ surprise ꞏ human perception ꞏ cognitive bias ꞏ decision making ꞏ hindsight bias ꞏ cognitive psychology ꞏ psychology ꞏ information processing ꞏ pattern recognition ꞏ cognitive science ꞏ attention ꞏ perceptual blindspot ꞏ perception ꞏ visual perception ꞏ cognitive processes ꞏ subconscious ꞏ unconscious ꞏ awareness ꞏ intuition ꞏ mental shortcuts ꞏ heuristics ꞏ judgment ꞏ reasoning ꞏ cognitive limitations ꞏ cognitive biases ꞏ information overload ꞏ cognitive load ꞏ cognitive abilities ꞏ memory ꞏ cognitive development ꞏ human behavior ꞏ perception bias ꞏ decision bias ꞏ cognitive errors ꞏ mental models ꞏ insight ꞏ foresight ꞏ anticipation ꞏ cognitive illusions ꞏ perceptual illusions ꞏ mental processing