A cognitive phenomenon constructed to describe the failure to perceive an unexpected stimulus in plain view when attention is engaged on a concurrent task or focal stimulus. Parameters: attentional set (the currently engaged focus), target (the unattended stimulus), simultaneity (co-occurrence in the same sensory field). Persistence mechanism: taught and measured in psychological experiments, propagated through cognitive science literature and educational curricula as a demonstration of the limits of selective attention. [formal: inattentional blindness | substrate: mind | horizon: a moment | explicit: yes | epoch: 1.00]
Accepted ontology entry
inattentional-blindness
A cognitive phenomenon constructed to describe the failure to perceive an unexpected stimulus in plain view when attention is engaged on a concurrent task or focal stimulus. Parameters: attentional set (the currently engaged focus), target…
Definition
Why it is in scope
The cognitive phenomenon where focused attention on one task or stimulus causes failure to notice unexpected but typically noticeable objects or events in the same sensory field — a human-made category for a failure mode of selective attention, constructed through psychological research and taught as a key finding in cognitive science.
Names and aliases
- inattentional-blindnessen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrmwufxy01pxd1nllvxs1o1sINSTANCE_OF →
Inattentional-blindness is a specific kind of cognitive-bias: the failure to detect a salient stimulus when attention is engaged elsewhere. Law 9: X is a specific kind of Y = INSTANCE_OF. The filer pins inattentional-blindness as a systematic perceptual error, squarely within cognitive-bias.
- cmrgrc7ac0027yvn1hxa549vhDEPENDS_ON →
Removal test: inattentional-blindness is the failure to detect a salient stimulus when attention is engaged elsewhere. Remove attention and the phenomenon has no cognitive mechanism to operate — it is fundamentally about attentional capture. The which-came-first test confirms attention predates the conceptualization.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 23, 2026, 7:43 PM UTC
- Content hash
- e072bd0a163307022b03488a9cea9e35ede57d999b9f06e667b7d6d1641f4ec2