Take a look at the pink circles. If you’re like most people, the circle on the right probably looksbigger, but they are actually the same size.
People of the Himba tribe are not so easily fooled by optical illusions like this. The Himba canbe found in the small town of Opuwo, Namibia in small numbers. They’re easy to pick out,with the distinctive red paint that they spread on their skin and hair. They’re few and farbetween in town because they mostly live a life untouched by modern times. The youngergenerations are being drawn to the charms of contemporary society and this town is givingthem a taste. Jules Davidoff is studying these semi-nomadic herders at this pivotal point in their history. Itturns out that the brains of people in pre-modern cultures like the Himba perceive thingsdifferently than people in modern cultures.
People of the Himba tribe are more focused on small details than they are on the largercontext. People in modern cultures see more of the context and less of the details. This makesthe Himba tribe less easily fooled by optical illusions. They are so focused on the smallerdetails that their brains don’t misinterpret what their eyes see. And this doesn’t just apply tovisual focus. People in the Himba tribe are also less easily distracted – their mental focus isstronger.
Davidoff found that Himba people who went to Opuwo, even for a short trip were moresusceptible to optical illusions and their focus decreased.
The reason for this is unclear but most researchers agree that the modern world presents uswith a lot of stimuli that grab our attention. This is something that the technology industryknows all too well. They spend millions looking for ways to keep our attention on their onlinesites and apps. Some say this is damaging our focus and possibly our IQ. Justin Rosenstein is an unlikely ally in a backlash against the tech assault on our attention. Heis the creator of Facebook’s notorious “Like” button. He was worried about the Internet’s tollon his attention so he is backing off. He tweaked his laptop to block certain addictivewebsites and he even set up parental controls on his phone that limit his access.
Just a small dose of modern society has been shown to impact the people of the Himba tribedramatically. For many of us who live within the modern world full time, our perception is nolonger what it was. But people like Rosenstein believe we’re not too far gone and it’s not toolate to start safeguarding our attention.
The raunchy creatures also push the comedian to do ecstasy in the not-for-kids trailer for the dark comedy Melissa McCarthy plays the le...