The Choral Contrarians

The Guy in the Gorilla Suit

November 28, 2020 Eric Barnum and Richard Robbins Season 3 Episode 6
The Choral Contrarians
The Guy in the Gorilla Suit
Show Notes

Richard and Eric take a look at a 2017 Australian research paper that correlates openness to experience and binocular rivalry.  The researchers found some very interesting perceptual outcomes, including a connection to inattentional blindness (made famous by the 'Invisible Gorilla' experiment), but does anything found have anything to do with our musical practice (especially for conductors)?  It is seen to be true that openness to experience, wonder, and awe are linked to perceptual awareness — how does this play out in teaching and the ensemble experience?  Will we miss the guy in the gorilla suit?

Antinori, A., Carter, O. L., & Smillie, L. D. (2017). Seeing it both ways: Openness to experience and binocular rivalry suppression. Journal of Research in Personality, 68, 15–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2017.03.005

Goldhill, O. (2017, June 6). Being open-minded literally changes the way you see the world. Quartz. https://qz.com/997679/open-minded-people-have-a-different-visual-perception-of-reality/

Smillie, L., & Smillie, L. (2017, August 15). Openness to Experience: The Gates of the Mind. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/openness-to-experience-the-gates-of-the-mind/