Ep 2. Pay Attention!

In Brain Games season 1 episode 2 "Pay Attention!", viewers are taken on a journey to explore the incredible power of attention. Host Jason Silva starts off by asking the question, "What if I told you that you're not really paying attention to what you think you are?" This sets the tone for the episode, which challenges viewers to look at their own attention spans and the limits of our focus.

The episode is divided into several segments, each exploring a different aspect of attention. The first segment focuses on the concept of inattentional blindness - our tendency to miss things that are right in front of us. To demonstrate this, Silva conducts a social experiment in which he asks participants to count the number of basketball passes made by a group of players. While they're focused on counting, a man in a gorilla suit walks through the scene, but most of the people don't notice him. This serves as a powerful reminder of how easy it is to miss important details when we're not paying attention.

The second segment explores the limits of our attention span - just how much information can we really process at once? Silva stages a colorful experiment that tests the limits of our short-term memory, which only has a capacity of around seven items at a time. The experiment shows just how easy it is to overload our brains, even with something as simple as trying to remember a list of colors.

Next, the episode delves into the science of focus and how attention works in the brain. Silva explains that our brains are wired to constantly seek out new information, making it difficult to maintain our focus on any one thing for very long. But by understanding how this process works, he says, we can learn to train our brains to focus more effectively.

This leads into the next segment, which focuses on the power of meditation and mindfulness in helping people improve their focus and attention. Silva interviews a meditation expert who explains how focusing on the present moment can help quiet the constant chatter of our minds and improve our ability to maintain attention for longer periods of time.

Finally, the episode wraps up with a fun segment that tests the viewers' attention to detail. Silva shows a series of simple images, each with a subtle difference, and challenges viewers to spot the difference as quickly as possible. It's a testament to how much our brains can improve with practice and training, and a fun way to end an engaging and informative episode.

Overall, "Pay Attention!" is an enlightening look at the science of attention and focus, and a reminder of just how much we can improve our abilities with the right training and techniques. Along the way, viewers are treated to some fascinating experiments and insights that will leave them questioning their own powers of perception and focus.