#mcgurk effect

We like to believe our eyes are cameras and our brains are recording devices, faithfully capturing the world around us. This comforting idea suggests that what we perceive is simply what’s there — objective, unfiltered reality delivered straight to our consciousness. Yet this assumption about human perception is not just wrong — it’s misleading. The truth is far more fascinating. Perception…

Listen up! Short video demo of the McGurk Effect (1m 57s) If you enjoyed the article we just posted, “Learning a second language alters your sensory perception, study says,” check out this two-minute video demo of the phenomenon. 

McGurk effect [ムガーク・エフェクト] - A perceptual phenomenon where, when the auditory component of one sound is paired with the visual component of another sound, a third and different sound is perceived. 

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/McGurk_effect 

 #McGurkEffect [See: McGurk Effect] #WearYourDictionary

In 2009 and 2010, some linguists (Gick and Derrick) published the results of some experiments they had done to follow up on the McGurk effect. The experiments tested whether a puff of air touching a person’s skin could alter their perception of a consonant (ba or pa, da or ta). One experiment played the puff against the wrist or the back of the neck, those being logical places one might feel displaced air while in close proximity to a speaker.

The next experiment sought to investigate whether a puff of air somewhere else on the body could influence perception, so they put the puff against people’s ankles. It turns out, it did affect people’s perception, but it had a very strong gender divide. Luckily, they didn’t just throw their hands up and say “gosh, men are from mars and women are from venus!”

You should watch the BBC video I’m linking below for a more in-depth explanation, but I’ll summarize here.

Your brain does not just take in information and relay it, it translates it into something that makes sense. And what you see trumps what you hear.

The perfect example of the McGurk effect in action is the scene in Greatest Showman where Jenny Lind sings “Never Enough”, which I am also linking below. Loren Allred sings the song, and Rebecca Ferguson acts it. In the song the word “never” repeats over and over again. During this section of the song, Allred is actually singing “neber”. Slightly changing consonants and vowel is a strategy singers use to more easily and consistently hit the notes. Rebecca Ferguson, however, always lip-syncs the word “never”. When the camera is away from her face you can hear the “b”, but when the camera is on her face, you can’t help but hear “v”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-lN8vWm3m0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUkRoIMyqFo

Lip-Reading Software Could Soon Become A Reality

Yeah, you heard it right. In the near future, we may know much more about what’s happening on a football or basketball match, we could know what the people at some political rally have to say about the speaker, and much more. One research team based at the University of East Anglia in the UK is developing a new exciting piece of software that could read lips better than human lip-readers. They…