How do you ruin King Kong for a cognitive psychologist?

[CalMeacham]

Have him count the number of times the basketball is passed.

[ReticulatingSplines]

Wow, finally an esoteric quip I understand. Yay for useless undergrad degrees!

[Zsofia]

Heh. That's a cute one.

[YourAdHere]

Hahaha! What a jolly good laugh. I know I certainly enjoyed it, but would someone mind explaining this for those OTHER poor fools who do not understand.

[Dolores Reborn]

Invisible gorilla test.

[CalMeacham]

There actually was a point to this joke.


I was inspired by a report I heard on NPR yesterday morning. Apparently they did a "gorilla in the room" experiment on radiologists. They wanted to see if their concentration on looking for particular features of x-rays effectively blinded them to obvious problems that thwey weren't concentrating on. So they doctored some x-rays so that they had a gorilla superimposed on them and asked the radiologists to look for cancerous nodules.


Okay, I made that up -- they didn't really put a pictuire of a gorilla on the x-ray. That would be stupid and too literal. They put other features on for them to miss.

















Actually, I didn't make it up. They superimposed a picture of a gorilla on the x-ray. See?:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013...in-plain-sight




According to the report, 83% of the radiologists missed the gorilla, which is worse than the 50% of the people watching the basketball videotape. I'd be skeptical, but when I glanced quickly over the picture while reading the article, I didn't see it, either.


When I mentioned this to my wifde, Pepper Mill, who's a Dental Assistant, she wasn't vsurprised. She told me about a case wghere she looked over the shoulder of a doctor looking at a head x-ray of a patient with headaches, and asked him if it might be due to the four impacted wisdom teeth she saw on the x-ray. He hadn't noticed them.






Regarding the original gorilla experiment -- I've heard the old canard that if someone tells you not to think of a purple giraffe, you find it impossible not to. What if you repeated the gorilla experiment, only with a purple giraffe waloking through the scene -- after you hsad told the subject not to think of a purple giraffe (then told them to count the basketball passings).

Would this be like the "unstoppable force meets irresistable object" of cognitive psychology testing?

[CalMeacham]

bump

[Nzinga, Seated]

Damn! I'm beginning to think humans just have a hard time seeing gorillas? What if there are gorillas in this room right now?!!

[CalMeacham]

Originally Posted by Nzinga, Seated

Damn! I'm beginning to think humans just have a hard time seeing gorillas? What if there are gorillas in this room right now?!!

Stop counting basketball passes and LOOK, then!

[Ferret Herder]

Originally Posted by Nzinga, Seated

Damn! I'm beginning to think humans just have a hard time seeing gorillas? What if there are gorillas in this room right now?!!

Gorillas in the midst, even?

[ducati]

Good lord, it took me 2 minutes to see the damn thing, and I'm looking for it.

It's a good thing I'm not your doctor. I understand they need to be very fosse about these things.

Assuming the studies are over, will these films be recycled so they can get the silver back out of them?

[CalMeacham]

Originally Posted by ducati

Good lord, it took me 2 minutes to see the damn thing, and I'm looking for it.

It's a good thing I'm not your doctor. I understand they need to be very fosse about these things.

Assuming the studies are over, will these films be recycled so they can get the silver back out of them?

"Well, THERE'S your problem -- you've got a gorilla lodged in your lung."



Very "fosse"? Are Doctors choreographrers?To be anthropoid experts they'd have to be Fossey.

[Balance]

Originally Posted by Nzinga, Seated

Damn! I'm beginning to think humans just have a hard time seeing gorillas? What if there are gorillas in this room right now?!!

They're very adept at camouflage--stealth maneuvers are a key element of gorilla warfare.

[Machine Elf]

Originally Posted by ducati

It's a good thing I'm not your doctor. I understand they need to be very fosse about these things.

Assuming the studies are over, will these films be recycled so they can get the silver back out of them?

You are awesome.

[Senegoid]

How would those radiologists have responded if the researchers had put a horse into the pictures? Would they have spotted those?

How would those radiologists have responded if the researchers had put a zebra into the pictures? Would they have spotted those?

[Ferret Herder]

Originally Posted by Senegoid

How would those radiologists have responded if the researchers had put a horse into the pictures? Would they have spotted those?

How would those radiologists have responded if the researchers had put a zebra into the pictures? Would they have spotted those?

They probably would have looked for unicorns.

[Balance]

Originally Posted by Senegoid

How would those radiologists have responded if the researchers had put a horse into the pictures? Would they have spotted those?

How would those radiologists have responded if the researchers had put a zebra into the pictures? Would they have spotted those?

If you want the animal spotted, you should probably go straight for a leopard.

[Manduck]

Originally Posted by Senegoid

How would those radiologists have responded if the researchers had put a horse into the pictures? Would they have spotted those?

How would those radiologists have responded if the researchers had put a zebra into the pictures? Would they have spotted those?

Would they have spotted owls?

[Battle Pope]

"Bad news I'm afraid Bob..........your Gorilla has lung cancer."

[Little Nemo]

I remember reading an account by an umpire who was calling one of his first games. He didn't want to make any mistakes so he was really focusing on whether or not the ball passed through the batter's strike zone.

The first pitch was outside the zone so he called "Ball."

The catcher turned around and said "What the hell are you talking about? That was a strike!"

The umpire wanted to make it clear he wasn't going to allow players to challenge his calls, so he said, "I'm not going to argue about it. It was outside the strike zone and that's that."

The catcher said, "Maybe so but he swung at it."

[TreacherousCretin]

Originally Posted by ducati

Assuming the studies are over, will these films be recycled so they can get the silver back out of them?

Originally Posted by Machine Elf

You are awesome.

Indeed.

[Zebra]

Originally Posted by Senegoid

How would those radiologists have responded if the researchers had put a zebra into the pictures? Would they have spotted those?

Hey, I'm right here!

[Thuringwethil]

I am sorely tempted to mention a certain English delicacy and wonder if they would have spotted it.

[cmkeller]

Nzinga, Seated:

Damn! I'm beginning to think humans just have a hard time seeing gorillas? What if there are gorillas in this room right now?!!

That's why you need a gorilla detector.

[CalMeacham]

Originally Posted by cmkeller

Nzinga, Seated:



That's why you need a gorilla detector.

Or possibly a Don Martin Gorilla Suiit Detector:

http://chrispearce.wordpress.com/201...-bounces-back/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2n5gAN3IlI

[CalMeacham]

Originally Posted by cmkeller

Nzinga, Seated:



That's why you need a gorilla detector.

Dear Og! That gorilla head looks suspiciously like the one from Robo-Kong in King Kong Escapes!:

http://images.search.yahoo.com/image...mb=G.kSrW0OssH

http://images.search.yahoo.com/image...mb=G.kSrW0OssH

[sbunny8]

Originally Posted by CalMeacham

How do you ruin King Kong for a cognitive psychologist? Have him count the number of times the basketball is passed.

I thought you meant tell King Kong (the creature) to count the number of times the basketball is passed. I imagined King Kong sitting in a room watching a basketball game; I couldn't figure out what the psychologist was going to do to ruin it while King Kong was counting passes.

About a half hour later, it hit me: you meant to say "How do you ruin King Kong when it's about to be watched by a cognitive psychologist who hasn't seen the movie before."

I can't decide whether I should be mad at myself for being slow or mad at the OP for not italicising the movie title.

[Senegoid]

Originally Posted by CalMeacham

Dear Og! That gorilla head looks suspiciously like the one from Robo-Kong in King Kong Escapes!:

<snip>

Dear Og indeed! I had a bunch of those Don Martin books, way back in my larval days! Don Martin Steps Out, Don Martin Bounces Back, The Adventures of Captain Klutz, etc.

CalMeacham, we're just showing our age here.

[Freddy the Pig]

So, I just watched King Kong. The basketball gets passed zero times. In fact, I never even saw a basketball. What a ridiculous exercise.

It wouldn't have been so bad, if at least I got to watch a decent movie while I was counting nothing. But, the movie was really stupid. Everybody talked about finding some giant ape on an island, but then they got there and all I saw were a bunch of dancing natives, with no basketballs. I was watching closely.

Truly, what a waste of time.

[Senegoid]

Originally Posted by Freddy the Pig

So, I just watched King Kong. The basketball gets passed zero times. In fact, I never even saw a basketball. What a ridiculous exercise.

See, you just made the whole point. While you were so focused on watching the Big Daddy Gorilla, you completely missed the entire basketball tournament scene.

[ducati]

Originally Posted by CalMeacham

"Well, THERE'S your problem -- you've got a gorilla lodged in your lung."



Very "fosse"? Are Doctors choreographrers?To be anthropoid experts they'd have to be Fossey.

[BMalion]

Gorilla my dreams!

[Chronos]

I saw the Threadspotting tag, and I thought I knew what this thread was about. Then I saw the thread title (or at least, the first few words that showed up on the tab at top of the screen), and thought "Nah, it's just something about King Kong". Then I read the OP, and it turns out I was right after all. Well done, CalMeacham.

[CalMeacham]

Originally Posted by sbunny8

I thought you meant tell King Kong (the creature) to count the number of times the basketball is passed. I imagined King Kong sitting in a room watching a basketball game; I couldn't figure out what the psychologist was going to do to ruin it while King Kong was counting passes.

About a half hour later, it hit me: you meant to say "How do you ruin King Kong when it's about to be watched by a cognitive psychologist who hasn't seen the movie before."

I can't decide whether I should be mad at myself for being slow or mad at the OP for not italicising the movie title.

I make no apologies. Brevity is indeed the soul of wit. If I used as a title "How do you ruin King Kong when it's about to be watched by a cognitive psychologist who hasn't seen the movie before" it wouldn't work, it'd be too damned long for the space, and I'd be accused of being unfunny. I'll take the chance of confusing a handful of readers (you're the only complainer) over ruining the joke.


Besides, when I try to put italics in the thread title, it never works.

[CalMeacham]

Originally Posted by Senegoid

Dear Og indeed! I had a bunch of those Don Martin books, way back in my larval days! Don Martin Steps Out, Don Martin Bounces Back, The Adventures of Captain Klutz, etc.

CalMeacham, we're just showing our age here.

You quoted from the wrong thread entry!


But it's the thought thsat counts...

[Jungian Camisole]

Originally Posted by Senegoid

How would those radiologists have responded if the researchers had put a horse into the pictures? Would they have spotted those?

How would those radiologists have responded if the researchers had put a zebra into the pictures? Would they have spotted those?

Neigh.

(Yes, I do like to go for the low-hanging fruit.)

[ftg]

In the movie Altered States, after William Hurt comes out of one of his trips, they take an X-ray of his throat and note something unusual. They take it to the radiologist on duty and the following exchange takes place:

Mason Parrish: It looks to me like the architecture is slightly abnormal.
Dr. Wissenschaft: Somewhat? This guy's a f**king gorilla!

He noticed! Clearly, yet another thing that Hollywood got wrong.

[CalMeacham]

Originally Posted by ftg

In the movie Altered States, after William Hurt comes out of one of his trips, they take an X-ray of his throat and note something unusual. They take it to the radiologist on duty and the following exchange takes place:

Mason Parrish: It looks to me like the architecture is slightly abnormal.
Dr. Wissenschaft: Somewhat? This guy's a f**king gorilla!

He noticed! Clearly, yet another thing that Hollywood got wrong.

Well, in their defense, he wasn't looking for a gorilla hidden in an x-ray. It was an x-ray of a quasi-gorilla.


I mean, if gorillas by themselves were invisible in x-rays there'd be no point in x-raying them, right?


Clearly, further researsch is needed.

[Marley23]

Originally Posted by CalMeacham

I mean, if gorillas by themselves were invisible in x-rays there'd be no point in x-raying them, right?

Do gorillas have reflections when they stand in front of mirrors? Could they be vampires?

[CalMeacham]

Originally Posted by Marley23

Do gorillas have reflections when they stand in front of mirrors? Could they be vampires?

Vampire Gorillas. The mind boggles.

It's kinda like Queen of the Black Coast.

[Balance]

Originally Posted by CalMeacham

Vampire Gorillas. The mind boggles.

I suppose there's no reason vampirism couldn't make the jump to (or from) other primates. So, if a typical gorilla is about six times as strong as a similarly sized human, and human vampires have the strength of ten men, a vampire gorilla would be....

You know what? I'm going to assume that "strength of ten men" is additive, not multiplicative, so our gorillapire has the strength of roughly 2.5 gorillas.

[Blue Blistering Barnacle]

Originally Posted by ftg

In the movie Altered States, after William Hurt comes out of one of his trips, they take an X-ray of his throat and note something unusual. They take it to the radiologist on duty and the following exchange takes place:

Mason Parrish: It looks to me like the architecture is slightly abnormal.
Dr. Wissenschaft: Somewhat? This guy's a f**king gorilla!

He noticed! Clearly, yet another thing that Hollywood got wrong.

IANAL. But I am a radiologist who reads a lot of neck exams. I have said the same thing many times before ( I mean the part about Hollywood getting it wrong...). Even someone has spent a lot of time studying gorilla x-rays and comparative anatomy (not impossible in an academic setting) would be far more likely to consider x-ray artifact or some (ANY!) developmental pathology rather than boldly propose that a human-gorilla hybrid was standing before him.

(But, maybe, that his is standard insult for folks who come by wasting his time...)