Plant blindness

The term plant blindness was coined by the botanist educators J. H. Wandersee and E. E. Schussler in their 1999 publication 'Preventing Plant Blindness'. Scientists have suggested that the reason some people do not notice plants is because plants are stationary and similarly coloured, although other research has suggested that plant blindness is affected by cultural practices. A 2014 study in the United States looked at how plants and animals are perceived using "attentional blink" (the ability to notice one of two rapidly presented images). The study showed that participants were more accurate in detecting animals in images, rather than plants. The researchers also suggested possible strategies for characterizing and overcoming zoo-centrism.

According to the BBC journalist Christine Ro, plant blindness is potentially linked to nature deficit disorder, which she construes is causing what she claims is reduced funding and fewer classes for botany.

Causes

Two main avenues through which plant blindness has arisen have been suggested: human nature, and culture.

Human nature

The first, human nature, encompasses the idea that human brain chemistry and visual processing systems are inherently biased to ignore plants in the environment. Studies have shown that human visual systems can not effectively process all the information that is seen. Thus, research suggests that priority is given to variable colors, movement, and familiar objects in order to most effectively detect threats and potential food sources. As plants do not often fit this criterion, many scientists think the human brain tends not to fully process their visual presence. For instance, plants tend to be overlooked because, unlike animals which actively hunt or attack, they generally present only passive or defensive threats, such as thorns or toxins. Additionally, primates have been shown to have a preference for organisms that behave similarly to their own species. As plants behave very differently than humans, this also suggests that there is an intrinsic component to plant blindness.

Culture

Culture has also been shown to play an important role in the establishment of plant blindness in a society. Many believe that evidence for this is found in the decreased level of plant blindness in certain communities. For example, in certain Indian and indigenous communities, plants are highly valued for their role in religion, medicine, and mythology.

In societies where plant blindness is prevalent, several cultural mechanisms are considered to contribute to the phenomenon. Zoo-centric education is considered to be one main cause. In the United States, high school biology textbooks devote only 15% of their content to plants. In many societies, there is not thought to be a comprehensive understanding among citizens of the complexity behind plants' behaviors, reactions, and movements. The pervasive misunderstanding of evolution as a linear mechanism where humans are most evolved and plants are least evolved, rather than as a complex, non-hierarchical process, may also cultivate plant blindness. Plant blindness is also partially attributed to increased urbanization, which has led to nature-deficit disorder and the decrease in prominence of plants' roles in everyday life. Finally, the concept that animals are more important than plants is reinforced through cultural over-representation of animals, such as in mascots.