The Himba people are indigenous, semi-nomadic people who mostly reside in the Kunene Region
of northern Namibia.
The tribe has an estimated population of around 50,000 and mostly subsists on livestock farming,
particularly breeding sheep and goats, though they also grow crops like millet and maize.
These herders live very simple lives, far different from the modern lifestyles of those
who live in urban cities.
The tribe is comprised of smaller family communities and members of these family villages dwell
in circular, wooden huts which were built to surround an “okuruwo” – a sacred
fire the Himba people believe allows them to connect with the spirits of their ancestors.
These homesteads also have specially-built enclosures they refer to as “kraal” in
which they rear they cattle.
What really makes the Himba people of Namibia so distinctive from the perspective of Westerners
is their appearance.
They are known for covering their skin with red ochre pigment, which is a mixture of clay,
sand and ferric oxide.
But another special thing that really sets them apart from the rest of the world is the
way they see and perceive things.
You see, even when looking at the same object, people can see things very differently.
In the case of the Himba people of Namibia, this truth applies not only figuratively but
literally as well.
And not only do they see things differently from most humans, they seem to do it better,
too, as research shows that they can focus on details better and are also less susceptible
to visual distractions.
This interesting finding compels us to ask this question: How is this possible?
If we are all generally born with the same organs needed for seeing and perceiving, shouldn’t
a traditional community like the Himba people see or perceive our surroundings no better
than the rest of us do?
According to scientists, the answer lies in the theory that vision and perception are
not solely a matter of biology and neurology.
This means that they can also be influenced by external factors such as environment and
culture.
And in the case of the Himba people, these semi-nomadic people see and perceive the way
they do because their minds have not been altered by modernization, which the likes
of Jules Davidoff, a psychologist and professor at Goldsmiths, University of London, believes
have significantly affected the visual focus and attention of those who belong to modern,
urban societies.
Davidoff conducted several studies and experiments on vision, perception and attention with the
Himba people as his main subjects, and the results of his research supported the supposition
of several other scientists that modernization has changed the way we see, perceive and pay
attention to the things we look at.
That is why the people belonging to a traditional culture like that of the Himba people are
less likely to commit errors in their perception of size and distance and are also less susceptible
to getting distracted from their concentration.
Many of Davidoff’s earlier experiments involving the Himba people utilized the famous Ebbinghaus
Illusion.
Also known as the Titchener circles, this optical illusion is one that concerns size
perception, and it was first developed by renowned German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus
before its use was popularized by British experimental psychologist Edward Titchener.
The most famous version of this of each other in order to be compared by the subject looking
at them.
However, the first circle is surrounded by circles much larger than its size while the
second circle is surrounded by smaller ones.
The positions of all the circles involved is supposed to make it appear that the main
circle encircled by larger circles is smaller than the central circle contained by the small
circles.
For most Westerners, the optical illusion succeeded in tricking them that the first
central circle is smaller than the latter.
However, when Davidoff showed the images to members of the Himba people, they weren’t
as likely to fall for the same trick.
According to an article he published with his colleagues in the Journal of Experimental
Psychology in 2007, the illusion had a weak effect on the Himba people because of their
bias towards local processing.
This meant that when presented with an image featuring multiple objects, they have the
tendency to focus on the smaller details – which in the case of the Ebbinghaus Illusion was
the main circles – instead of the complete picture.
And because they ignored the context of what they saw – which was the image of two circles
surrounded by large and small circles, respectively – the illusion failed to distort their perception.
Davidoff and his colleagues went on to test the Himba people’s local bias on focusing
on fine details by asking his subjects to compare Navon figures.
A Navon figure is used to compare local and global processing biases across race and culture.
It features a large and recognizable shape or letter that is made of repeat copies of
a different and much smaller shape or letter.
For example, a Navon figure could be a large letter T made up of copies of the letter S.
In this case, the letter T is the global feature while the S is the local one.
The result of the study, which was first published in 2013, revealed that the subjects from the
Himba people of Namibia, have the tendency to focus on smaller details over the larger
and overall image, which confirms that they are biased towards local processing.
However, despite this perceptual bias, the Himba people are more flexible and have more
control over their selective attention.
This means that while they tend to notice the small details first, they can just as
easily see the “big picture” if they are asked to do so.
Further experiments showed not only the Himba people’s perceptual bias for the small details
and their flexible selective attention, but also a reduced distractibility.
Compared to Westerners living in urban cities, the members of a remote culture such as the
Himba are less affected by visual distractions.
They can identify their target object better than others even when other moving objects
are present to disrupt their focus.
A possible explanation for why the Himba people can “see” and focus better than everyone
else is their traditional and simple lifestyle.
As herders, part of their everyday life is to identify cattle.
To be able to individuate dozens of animals, they had to train their eyes to quickly spot
distinctive features and markings on their sheep and goats from a distance.