McGurk Effect
What is it?
McGurk Effect is an illusion that makes you hear a different sound than the one you are actually hearing based on the visual information you are receiving.
The McGurk Effect is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when our perception of speech is influenced by both the auditory (what we hear) and the visual (what we see) information. This effect demonstrates how our brain combines different sensory inputs to create a unified perception. It was first discovered by Harry McGurk and John MacDonald in 1976.
In layman's terms, the McGurk Effect happens when what we see affects what we hear. Here's a simple example:
Imagine you are watching a video of someone saying the sound "ba" (audio) while their lips are forming the shape of saying "ga" (visual). Due to the conflicting information between what you hear and see, your brain may interpret the sound as "da" or another intermediate sound. This is the McGurk Effect in action.
In this example, even though the actual sound you hear is "ba," the visual cue of seeing the lips form "ga" influences your brain to perceive it as "da." This demonstrates how our brain tries to resolve the discrepancy between visual and auditory information to create a coherent perception.
The McGurk Effect highlights the importance of both auditory and visual cues in speech perception, showing that our understan ...