It’s a strange phenomenon to drop something on the ground–especially if the ground is of the same likeness as the object we dropped. Because of this, what should’ve been found in five seconds ends up taking five or ten minutes. In the worse case scenario, we end up not finding it at all.
When we first drop an item, such as a coin, we look directly below us–down near our feet. Then we expand the radius of our search, inferring that it could’ve rolled to our left, or maybe to our right. It ends up taking so much time that we come to the conclusion that it’s not even worth it, but because we had already started, we don’t want to give up that easily. And once we do find it, we end up surprised that we found it all, since it was camouflaged by the ground as if it was trying to hide from us.
But that object could’ve been anything: a bottle cap, a piece of jewelry, a contact lens, a paper clip, a key, the list goes on. It’s like our brains–our eyes–weren’t made to efficiently search for dropped items. It takes a great deal of effort to find them, which can include kneeling down and sweeping our hands over the floor, turning on multiple lights, walking in circles in the same area, sweeping that area with a broom, etc.
When we do find the item, it’s like we’ve solved a complex math problem or aced a test. There’s a huge sense of relief that immediately fills us, changes our mood from one of panic and anxiety to optimism and hopefulness.
Fallton Havenstonne 