#5580: — 08/26  at  02:29 PM
If you keep your eyes open, but avert your gaze from the screen by different degrees, you can find an interesting correlation between what you hear, and how prominently the movie is displayed in your visual field.

#5585: — 08/26  at  02:59 PM
This is an incredible demonstration. I found it virtually impossible to hear the actual sounds while looking at the image, even though I knew what the actual sounds were.

#5586: — 08/26  at  03:38 PM
I don't see what the big deal is. I hear sounds of a baby made by a grown man when I close my eyes and when I don't. What am I missing?

#5587: — 08/26  at  03:48 PM
AAB, I agree. Maybe it's my RP accent, or my nearly complete lack of a visual memory, or something, but I can't see a McGurkism here.

#5588: Jim Anderson — 08/26  at  04:02 PM
AAB, Nix, it's the precise type of sound that matters--is it a "bah bah" or a "dtha dtha?" Subtle, but quite different.

I can't help but laugh every time I try it.

#5589: Rory Parle — 08/26  at  04:07 PM
It's misleading to say he's making baby noises. I was expecting the closed-eyes version to sound more like a baby. I just thought, "meh, that still sounds like a man not making baby noises."

#5591: PaulH — 08/26  at  04:26 PM
What's wrong with me?! I watched the video, and thought "That man's saying 'bah bah' but looks like he's saying 'yah yah' or something"

I am the Anti-McGurk!

#5593: — 08/26  at  05:05 PM
NICE!!!! The first time I tried it, I wasn't paying much attention to the video, so I didn't hear any difference when I closed my eyes. On the second try, though, watching the video more closely, I got it.

I skimmed the article afterwards and noticed a mention of change blindness. I love that effect... in my mind, McGurk will never hold a candle to it.

#5595: mattH — 08/26  at  06:05 PM
Oddly enough, I heard what I was 'supposed' to, but it seemed slightly wrong when I was looking at the video. Probably an artifact of knowing something was off.

#5596: Prashant — 08/26  at  07:13 PM
Shouldn't one listen to it with your eye closed to hear what is being said and then watch it to see a difference?

Once you have seen the video then everytime after that it appears to be the same syllables.

I would ask someone who hasn't seen it yet to first listen with eyes closed and then come back and see it.

#5597: — 08/26  at  09:27 PM
Kind of reminds me of another effect, where people are unable to percieve one half of an object. I'm unclear on how it works, but given an image to draw, they are unable to draw the full image, only one half of it. But when their error is pointed out to them, they respond with amazement. "Oh! How did I miss that?" By not being able to even think about one whole side, they completely ignore it.

Which is why you frequently find your keys sitting in plain sight in a place you've looke right over (and sometimes directly at) for five or six times.

#5609: — 08/27  at  03:33 PM
<object.</i>

I don't know much about psych, but offhand I'd say that sounds like a split-brain effect, or maybe something to do with hemi-spatial neglect.

#5610: — 08/27  at  03:33 PM
Oops... I was talking about:

"Kind of reminds me of another effect, where people are unable to percieve one half of an object."

#5689: — 09/01  at  09:26 AM
The effect doesn't work for everybody. Glad it seems to work for most, though.

Here's something funny that happened when I prepared that sample: when I was using a large high-resolution version of the video and sound (ie, too large to post), the effect on me was of a much crisper 'D' sound. Also it was more hit-and-miss; even while watching, I would frequently alternate between hearing D and B. With the lower-resolution version I posted, I found the effect to be both more reliable, and less precise; I get 'dah', 'thah', and even 'vah', but rarely 'bah'.

Your brain -- or maybe just my brain -- is a funny old thing.

By the way, PZ -- you didn't ask, but I hereby give you permission to copy my file 'circusmcgurkus.mov' to your site for non-profit purposes, until such time as I explicitly revoke permission by notifying you. It's nicer to ask, though.

Everyone else, I'd appreciate it if you'd limit use of the file to linking to it rather than copying and re-hosting it elsewhere. Thanks, and please do contact me with feedback; I'm trying to make the articles, or subsequent versions, better.