McGurk Effect - The Illusions Index

McGurk effect is a cross-modal effect and illusion that results from conflicting information coming from different senses, namely sight and hearing. HomeAboutExploreSuggestDonateFeedbackQuiz HomeExploreIllusionsMcGurkEffect McGurkEffect Visual auditory cross-modal speech McGurkeffectisacross-modaleffectresultingfromconflictinginformationcomingfromdifferentsenses,namelysightandhearing. MediaLicence: MarkMittonandJoshAviner IllusionCredit HarryMcGurkandJohnMacDonald Instructions Watchthevideoandlistentothespeech.Dothesoundsproducedbythemanchangethroughoutthevideo? Effect Althoughthesoundremainsthesamethroughoutthevideo,whenwatchingdifferentlipmovements,youshouldexperienceanillusorychangeinthesound. McGurkeffectisacross-modaleffectresultingfromconflictinginformationcomingfromdifferentsenses,namelysightandhearing. MediaLicence: MarkMittonandJoshAviner MediaSource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWGeUztTkRA IllusionCredit HarryMcGurkandJohnMacDonald McGurkEffect McGurkeffectisacross-modaleffectresultingfromconflictinginformationcomingfromdifferentsenses,namelysightandhearing. MediaLicence: MarkMittonandJoshAviner MediaSource: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWGeUztTkRA   McGurkeffectisacross-modaleffectandillusionthatresultsfromconflictinginformationcomingfromdifferentsenses,namelysightandhearing. TheeffectwasdiscoveredbyHarryMcGurkandJohnMacDonald,andwaspublishedinNaturein1976.Theillusioncanbeobservedwhenoneisaskedtowatchavideooflipmovementsalongsidelisteningtosoundsuttered,apparentlybythesamepersonwhoselipmovementsoneiswatching.Ifthelipmovementsandthesoundsdonotmatch—forexample,ifthelipmovementsindicatea“ba-ba”sound,whereastheauditoryinformationisthatof“ga-ga”—onetypicallyexperiencesanillusorythirdsound—forexample“da-da”.McGurkandMacDonaldhypothesisethattheeffectisduetothefactthatthebrainistryingtomakea“bestguess”,giventheinformationthatiscomingfromdifferentsensesiscontradictory.Theeffectisreportedtobeparticularlysalientwhenthequalityofauditoryinformationispoor,inwhichcasethevisualinformationtrumpstheauditoryinformation(Massaro&Cohen2000). McGurkeffectisphilosophicallyinterestingbecauseithighlightsthedifficultiessurroundingthequestionofhowtoindividuatesensorymodalities.Thetraditionalview,attributedtoAristotle,andtaughttoprettymucheveryschoolchildinearlyyearsofeducation,isthathumanshavefivesenses:sight,hearing,smell,touchandtaste.Thetraditionalviewhasoftenbeenaccompaniedbytheviewthatthesesensesworkseparatelyandcanbestudiedinisolation,astheyprocessdistincttypesofsensoryinformation.Bothoftheseviewsarenowlargelyoverturned.SeeMacpherson(2011a)foraphilosophicaldiscussionofwhatsensorymodalitiesthereareandhowtheycanbeindividuatedordistinguishedfromoneanother,althoughalternativeperspectivesaregiveninNudds(2004)andRichardson(2013).Theexistence(andabundance)ofcross-modalillusionsandcross-modaleffectsonperceptualexperienceputspressureontheviewthatthesensesworkseparatelyandcanbestudiedinisolation.Muchworkhasbeencarriedoutonthistopicispsychology.Seeforinstance,Stein(2012).Likewise,philosophersarealsoconsideringwhatthismeansforthinkingaboutthetypesofexperiencethattherecanbe.See,forexample,Macpherson(2011b)andRichardson(2014). References Macpherson,F.(2011a)"IndividuatingtheSenses",inMacpherson(ed.)TheSenses:ClassicalandContemporaryReadings,OxfordUniversityPress. Macpherson,F.(2011b)"Cross-ModalExperiences". ProceedingsoftheAristotelianSociety,111(3):429-468. Massaro,DW.andCohen,MM.(Aug2000)."Testsofauditory-visualintegrationefficiencywithintheframeworkofthefuzzylogicalmodelofperception.".JournalofAcousticalSocietyofAmerica.108(2):784–789. McGurkH.,andMacDonaldJ.(1976)."Hearinglipsandseeingvoices.".Nature.264(5588):746–8. Nudds,M.(2004)"TheSignificanceoftheSenses",TheProceedingsoftheAristotelianSociety,104pp.31-51 Richardson,L.(2013)"Flavour,TasteandSmell",MindandLanguage,28:322–341 Richardson,L.(2014)“NonSense-SpecificPerceptionandtheDistinctionBetweentheSenses’,ResPhilosophica,91(2):215-239 Stein,B.E.(2012)TheNewHandbookofMultisensoryProcessing,CambridgeMA:MITPress HowToCiteThisArticle AuthorandCitationInfo Pleasecitethisarticleasfollows: Baysan,U.(July2017)"McGurkEffect"inF.Macpherson(ed.), TheIllusionsIndex.Retrievedfrom https://www.illusionsindex.org/i/mcgurk-effect. Citationcopiedtoclipboard CopyCitation ThisarticleislicensedunderCreativeCommons(CCBY-NC_SA4.0) SuggestanIllusion SuggestanIllusion ExploretheIllusionsIndex ExploreIllusions SurpriseMe! ShowRandomIllusion Foundanerror? Reportittoletusknow-we'llgetitfixedassoonaspossible. Reportanerror ReportanError   HomeAboutExploreSuggestDonateFeedbackQuiz