Dr. Anne Keogh

Have you ever not been able to see something that is right in front of you?

Maybe it's your keys or your phone or a pair of shoes or all three when you're desperately trying to get out the door.

So why does it happen?

Why do things remain hidden in plain sight?

I'm joined by Dr. Anne Keogh, who's Principal Clinical Psychologist.

You're welcome to the programme.

Thank you, Clare.

Why is it that we can't see things that we're looking for when it is literally right in front of us?

So say if I'm looking for my pen, which is I can see now it's in front of me.

But if I come in here and I'm looking for that pen, have I told my brain you can expect to see the pen on the desk?

But if the pen is on a chair, I can't see it because I'm not ready for that.

So this is called unintentional blindness, is it?

It's just really contradictory before we get to the example, because if I'm looking for my keys, my attention is on my keys, right?

That's where everything is focused.

I need to get out of the house.

I need to find the keys.

Exactly.

Exactly.

So we need to take the stress out of the situation and we'll probably find the thing that we're looking for quicker.

You know, a listener says, what about when the thing you want is where it should be, but you still can't see it?