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It seems obvious that we all see things differently. Yet we constantly forget, and act as if there is only one true way to see. However, knowing now that we are all susceptible to inattentional blindness and other perceptual errors,
Experimenters at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, conducted a study in which people increased the strength in their fingers by 35 percent solely by mental training—imagining exercising their finger fifteen minutes a day for twelve weeks—and not any real physical movement. The muscle gain without moving was possible because the mental rehearsal of movements activates the same cortical areas of the brain as physical movement.
We can work on avoiding our own subconscious pitfalls—such as perceptual filters—by bringing them into our consciousness, which happens as soon as we pay attention to them.
When we go into any situation thinking it’s going to be the same thing we’ve seen or done before, we’re putting up our own perceptual filter that will make any change even harder to find.
The resulting blinders can cause us to miss important details, to go into autopilot, or worse, to become presumptuous about our expertise, abilities, or safety.
