After 50+ years of this, I've finally learned to just laugh about it and move on. My BF makes hissing noises, as in "if this were a snake it would have bit you" to indicate when I am 'closing in' on an object for which I am searching, and he spotted right away. Or, he'll pick it up and bring it to me and make it wiggle like a snake, while hissing. We both laugh. He's long since given up on trying to train me to be more observant, and I've given up getting mad about not seeing what is right in front of me.
The thing that does bug me, is that if this is happening with objects that I am actively searching for, then it follows that I don't know (and can't know) how much of life's events and happenings my brain is hiding from me on a minute-by-minute basis. Logically, having repeated proof that there are gaps in my perception should protect me from the WYSIATI (what you see is all there is) cognitive illusion, but of course it doesn't work that way. I continually fall into the 'jump to conclusions' trap in spite of logic, experience, and knowledge of cognitive science. And I fail to perceive things that are happening around me, with sometimes life threatening consequences.
Not finding my phone when it is sitting in front of me in plain view is maddening; not seeing a truck coming at me at 50+ miles per hour and stepping in front of it (while staring the driver right in the eyes) is scary.
07 Dec 2015, 2:56 pm
