The McGurk Effect.

Question

What was the McGurk effect? -Noam Chomsky

Answer

The McGurk effect is an odd effect in speech perception in which you get conflicting auditory and visual input about a speech sound. You would hear a particular syllable such as /ba/. You would see a face that was pronouncing the syllable /ga/. Notice that the consonant /b/ is formed by stopping air at the lips. The consonant /g/ is formed by stopping air with your tongue touching your soft palate.

When you get this situation, you hear /da/. The consonant /d/ is made by stopping air with your tongue on the hard palate at the front of your mouth. Thus, the speech perception system has somehow integrated the visual and auditory information and has split the difference.

Here's a demo of the McGurk effect. Try it at home.

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