Pii: S1053-8100(02)00020-x

Recently, a number of experiments have emphasized the degree to which subjects fail to detect large changes in visual scenes. This finding, referred to as ‘‘change blindness,’’ is often considered surprising because many people have the intuition that such changes should be easy to detect. Levin, Momen, Drivdahl, and Simons (2000) documented this intuition by showing that the majority of subjects believe they would notice changes that are actually very rarely detected. Thus subjects exhibit a metacognitive error we refer to as ‘‘change blindness blindness.’’ Here, we test whether CBB is caused by a misestimation of the perceptual experience associated with visual changes and show that it persists even when the preand postchange views are separated by long delays. In addition, subjects overestimate their change detection ability both when the relevant changes are illustrated by still pictures, and when they are illustrated using videos showing the changes occurring in real time. We conclude that CBB is a robust phenomenon that cannot be accounted for by failure to understand the specific perceptual experience associated with a change. 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved. Consciousness and Cognition 11 (2002) 507–527 www.academicpress.com Consciousness and Cognition Corresponding author. Fax: 1-330-672-3786. E-mail address: [email protected] (D.T. Levin). 1053-8100/02/$ see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved. PII: S1053-8100(02)00020-X