We frantically search for our "lost" keys that are lying in plain
sight on the kitchen counter. We don't we see the keys. Why not?
Because we already decided "the keys are not there." And once we make
that decision, we create a blind spot in our awareness. The result is
that we don't see the keys where we don't expect them to be.
If we miss seeing keys out in the open because we decide the keys
aren't there, what else could we be missing because we decide it's
not there? Could we be "blind" to other possibilities and
opportunities that are right under our nose?
What's New, Pussycat?
A mind-blowing scientific experiment reveals how the early physical
environment of kittens determines what they are able to see-and not
see-as they grow up. Two-week-old kittens are placed in a room with
walls painted with vertical stripes and kept there as they mature.
Almost from the moment they are able to see, the kittens live in an
environment of vertical stripes. Later, the cats' world changes. They'
re removed from their vertically striped surroundings and placed in a
room painted with horizontal stripes. Surprisingly, our furry felines
don't see the horizontal stripes. Bang! They run right smack into the
walls painted with horizontal stripes, time and time again. Why?
Scientists discovered that because the cats don't have horizontal
stripes in their environment as they grow up, the brains of the cats
don't develop the neurons that recognize horizontal stripes. So when
elements they've never been exposed to appear in the cats' world,
their brains don't register the new elements in their environment.
Yikes! Could we be unable to recognize elements in our current
environment because those elements were missing when we grew up? Yes,
we could! But before we look for aspects of life we might not be
seeing, let's look for aspects we might not be hearing as well.
What'd You Say?
Studies with babies reveal how the early auditory environment of
babies determines what they are able to hear-and not hear-as they
grow up. Research shows that young babies have the ability to hear
the full range of vocal sounds produced by the speech of all the
human languages in the world. But then, babies are raised hearing
only the narrow range of speech sounds within their social
environment. Eventually, because they hear solely the speech sounds
found within one culture, babies lose their ability to distinguish
the full range of vocal sounds found in all human cultures.
This explains why Japanese children are unable to pronounce the
English "r" sound that does not exist in their native language. "The
common result," according to a researcher at the University of
California, "is essentially that if perceptual experience is limited,
one will not be able to perceive things outside that experience."
This is why, in everyday life, we're not able to recognize-or "hear"-
concepts that we weren't exposed to in our upbringing.
Casting a Spell of Limitations
We all grow up in families and societies where we are only exposed to
a limited view of life-like kittens only viewing vertical stripes and
babies only hearing speech sounds from their social environment. Our "
stripes" consist of a limited range of cultural patterns of sights
and sounds. These cultural patterns give signals to the brain that
tell us "the way life is" within that limited environment. And the
brain mistakenly "thinks" it knows "the way life is" outside of that
narrow-minded environment.
Growing up in a limited environment has a comparable effect to being
hypnotized. For example, when people are hypnotized, they can be told
that certain elements exist or don't exist in their environment. With
hypnotic suggestion, a person can be told that there are no red books
in a bookstore. And, even though many of the books are red, the
person won't see any red books. The hypnotic suggestion creates a
