I remember watching the WaPo videos of this experiment back when it happened. It's really hard to draw any kind of conclusion from it other than "context matter

I remember watching the WaPo videos of this experiment back when it happened. It's really hard to draw any kind of conclusion from it other than "context matters". First, nobody expects a famous violinist busking in the subway, and we know that our brain runs on its own expectations most of the time. Second, he was playing Bach's Chaconne, which is a masterpiece, but one that's less well known and less "impressive" sounding to the casual listener. Something like the Four Seasons would have probably attracted a lot more attention. Third, a number of people did notice him, and one lady even recognized him because she had been to one of his concerts recently. A few other people also did notice his skill level was unusually high. So the result is pretty much what you'd expect. To me, it wasn't so much an experiment as just a kind of silly but fun stunt.