The longer you look, the easier it is to miss

The more you observe something, the less chance you have to see it more fully, American scientists have discovered this paradox. According to them, that will explain the phenomenon we ignore important external evidence.

In the New York University study, volunteers who were asked to stare at black and white stripes would find they were inferior.

The team believes that long attention to a static image has made the vision " exhausted " after the initial support period.

(Photo: BBC) Although the focus of sight on an original object worked, the benefit quickly faded, investigator Samuel Ling and Marisa Carrasco discovered.

For example, if you are monitoring a screen and all the time you spend on a particular point on that screen, you will lose sensitivity after a short time."This is paradoxical because you think you are doing the best in your ability by focusing attention , " Carrasco said.

Researchers believe this paradox can be derived from evolutionary benefits. For example, adjusting the visual information you have processed will help relieve the limited resources of the brain to detect changes in the environment - the necessity of predators.

Even hunters can take advantage of this trait, they will advance one step at a time before the prey realizes.

Professor Peter McOwan, professor of computer science at Queen Mary University in London, said: "This result shows an interesting new form of focused hallucination - the longer you look, the less you see."

"This discovery will help us better understand human sensing mechanisms. It will allow us to build smarter computer vision systems, knowing what to look for."

T. An