When we think of misdirection / we think of something as looking off to the side / when actually it’s often the things that are right in front of us. // They’re the hardest thing to see. // The things that you look at every day / that you’re blinded to. // For example, / how many of you / still have your cell phones on you right now? // Great. // Double-check. // Make sure you still have them on you. // I was doing some shopping beforehand.// Now / you’ve looked at them / probably a few times today, // but I’ll ask you a question about it. // Without looking at your cellphone directly yet, / can you remember /the icon in the bottom right corner? // Bring them out, /check /and see how accurate you were //. How’d you do? // Show of hands. // Did we get it? // Now that you’ve done looking at those, / close them down. // Because every phone has something in common/ no matter how you organize the icons, / you still have a clock on the front. // So, / without looking at your phone, / what time was it? / You just looked at your clock, right? // It's an interesting idea. // Now I'll ask you to take that a step further / with a game of trust. // Close your eyes. // I realize I’m asking you to do that / while you just heard there’s a pickpocket in the room, / but close your eyes. // Now, / you’ve been watching me for about 30 seconds, / with your eyes closed, / what am I wearing? // Make your best guess. // What color is my shirt? / What color is my tie? / Now open your eyes. // By show of hands, / were you right? // It's interesting, isn’t it? // Some of us are a little bit more perceptive than others, / it seems that way //. But I have a different theory about that. // That model of attention. // They have fancy models of attention, / Posner’s trinity model of attention.// For me, / I like to think of it very simple, / like a surveillance system.// It’s kind of like you have all these fancy sensories, / and inside your brain / is a little security guard.// For me, / I like to call him Frank. // So Frank / is sitting at a desk.// He’s got all sorts of cool information in front of him, / high-tech equipment, / he’s got cameras, / he’s got a little phone that he can pick up,/ listen to the ears, / all these senses, / all these perceptions.// But attention / is what steers your perceptions.// It’s what controls your reality. // It’s the gateway to the mind. // If you don’t attend to something, / you can’t be aware of it. // But ironically, /you can attend to something/ without being aware of it. //That's why there's the cocktail effect: / when you’re in a party, / having conversations with someone, / and yet you can recognize your name and you didn't even realize you were listening to that.//