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Some people dislike watching dubbed movies because of the confusion they get when hearing something different from what they see.

The McGurk effect reveals the complex relationship between our visual and auditory senses. Named after psychologist Harry McGurk, who first documented it in the 1970s, this illusion demonstrates how what we see can profoundly influence what we hear.

The McGurk effect was first observed in a study where individuals were presented with a video of someone making a speech sound, but the audio did not match the visual. The video showed the speaker mouthing "ga," but the audio plays "ba," and many people perceived hearing something in between, "da." This discrepancy between what the eyes see and the ears hear leads to fused percept, where a combination of both sensory inputs results in a perception different from either stimulus alone.

Psychologists attribute the McGurk effect to crossmodal integration, the brain's ability to combine information from different senses to form a unified perception of the world. In this case, the brain integrates visual speech cues with auditory input, resulting in a perception that combines both modalities.

Expectations, perception, and communication

Expectations play an important role in shaping people's perceptions as the McGurk effect takes place. If individuals are aware of the phenomenon, they are more likely to experience it. However, even when people know about the illusion, they still perceive the fused percept, highlighting the automatic nature of crossmodal integration.

Studying the McGurk effect provides valuable insights into how the brain processes sensory information and constructs the perception of reality. It highlights the complexity of human perception and the brain's remarkable ability to integrate and interpret multiple sources of sensory input simultaneously.

Understanding the mechanisms behind the McGurk effect has practical applications in various fields, including communication, neuroscience and psychology.