Have you ever wondered about stories of cars colliding because one of the drivers didn’t see the other car?

Dr. J. Kevin O’Regan of the Universit Rn Descartes in Paris, had viewers note changes they saw in a realistic videotaped scene as small, textured rectangles (mud splashes) hit it. The subjects usually saw the central-interest changes (those of heightened visual interest) when they occurred, but only saw the less important (marginal interest changes) at their second or later occurrence.
Dr. O’Regan thinks that this is evidence that our sight registers only those things that we find interesting, rather than everything that’s happening at a given time. This "change-blindness" can account for those "inexplicable" car crashes, or for a sports fan’s minute observation of the ball but unawareness of the crowd in the stadium.