Friday, August 30, 2013

The McGurk Effect

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It's convenient to think of our senses as separate data channels, each delivering information of a different type faithfully to the brain. While that's true on a basic level, the picture of the world we perceive in our minds is actually quite a bit adjusted from what's taken in by the ears, eyes, skin, and organs, and it stands to reason that some of signals get mixed up in the processing. One of the most startling such cases is the McGurk effect, which you can read more about here:
McGurk effect

Like the Matrix, though, the McGurk effect needs to be seen to be truly understood:

The world is complicated, and our minds are quite sophisticated as well. It makes sense that some odd quirks in the system emerge when we try to make sense of the universe using senses that are at best fallible and at worst downright kludge-y. Still, the McGurk effect is one of those illusions that pushes the envelope of the ways we're able to misinterpret what's happening.

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