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attention
High visual focus can render you temporarily deaf.
A 2011 study found that participants focused on a difficult visual task failed to hear a distinct tone played repeatedly in their ears.
This phenomenon, inattentional deafness, occurs because the brain has a limited capacity for processing concurrent sensory streams. When visual load is high, the brain effectively shuts down auditory processing to preserve attentional resources.
Your environment is full of sounds you are physically capable of hearing but choose to discard.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Macdonald and Lavie, 2011, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance
- What the check found
- The study by Macdonald and Lavie (2011) correctly identified that high visual load impairs auditory detection. The provided reference material in the prompt did not contain the study details.
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.