This research was conducted to investigate the phenomenon of inattentional blindness, which, examines the possibility of perception without visual attention. This study also attempted to determine whether certain features of stimuli can have an effect on the degree of that phenomenon. The study comprises three experiments, in which the procedure was exactly the same, but the type of presented stimuli differed. Thirty subjects participated in each experiment. They were randomly divided into three groups, which corresponded to three experimental conditions. The total sample consisted of 90 subjects. The results of Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 show that there is no adequate perception without active engagement of attention, while the results of Experiment 3 indicate that certain type of stimuli can be perceived automatically, without visual attention. Analysis of all results suggests that there is the effect of type of stimuli on seeing a stimulus in inattentional conditions, but not on accuracy of identification.

perception, visual attention, inattentional blindness