I got this link of off Digg today. But don't go there, it link to this other site, and I'll bet dollars to donuts that it's got popups and spyware and all the mess. Instead I'll recreate the "test" here.

(It's not really a good idea to do things like this, especially if your going to be copy and pasting a bunch but I think I can do better then the other blogger, the adsite, and the university website together)

So you think you can count? I'm going to show you a movie with a small group of boys and girls wearing black or white shirts passing two balls back and forth. Your job is to count the number of passes between people in white shirts. Sounds easy right? Well.. good luck Let's see if you can do this. And Only watch the movie once! Self Discipline and all.

Clicking on the link will take you (assuming Java is properly installed on your machine) to a page with a small video screen with a green arrow at the bottom. Clicking on the green arrow will start the movie.

You think you counted right? Read on.

How many? I counted 14 passes on my first count.

But you know what? It doesn't mater, you've been duped.

The point of this exercise has nothing to do with the passes.

You didn't see anything else in that video maybe? A small animal walking past perhaps? A squirrel? A cat? A gorilla?

Nah I'm messing with you.

Go watch it again though, look for other things.

Heh heh.

It's an experiment in human distraction. Makes you think about many other things you miss every day.

The video was made by a Dr. Simons who's got a whole page of demos. That show different techniques of misdirection and distraction.

The first link I gave you gets the credit for this find, Dr Simons gets the credit for making the movie and more. He's got a DVD you can buy.

And you people say I never post anything.

-Francis