Have you ever wondered why your nose never seems to get in the way of your vision, even though it’s right there in the middle of your face? It’s basically our brain’s way of being selective — hence the term “unconscious selective attention.” If, after all, our brain had to constantly be giving us up-to-date information on whether our nose was still in place, there would be no time for it to get on with the important things……like keeping us alive. That’s why our brain uses unconscious selective attention and fools us into ignoring our noses. After all, in the bigger scheme of things, our noses really aren’t that important. For similar reasons, we don’t feel the clothing against our skin once we get dressed and we don’t always notice what’s going on right before our eyes. If you want proof, just watch this video:
Chances are, you never even noticed the scenery changing right before your eyes. This is known as “inattention blindness,” and it’s our brain’s way of stopping us from seeing too much and overloading our minds. Imagine if you had something important to do, like filing out your tax forms, and your brain was constantly telling you to look at your nose. It would not only be infuriating, you wouldn’t be capable of concentrating on your taxes. That's why our brain simply switches off its attention to our nose and helps us concentrate on the task at hand.
