Have you heard of the McGurk Effect? I didn’t, until this very morning when I learn something new. After listening to it on the radio, I went home and did some research on the topic myself and was quite intrigued!

View the image below of a “skipping”- do you hear a sound? A thud perhaps?

Image Source

This gif entertains us with electricity pylons playing a game of jump rope. There is no sound or music accompanying the gif and the movements involved. Two of the pylons are turning the “rope” while a third one jumps over it. What is bazaar about the silent animation is that many people have mentioned that they can HEAR a thud or a “boing” sound as the jumping electrical tower hits the ground.

Dr. Lisa DeBruine, a psychology researcher, took to Twitter and asked users if they could hear any sound when watching the gif. Around 70% of people who answered said that they could hear a thump sound or boing when the pylon in the middle hits the ground and they see it shake. Only 18% said that they heard nothing, 3% said they heard something else, and 9% said that they only wanted to find out the results. -http://www.disclose.tv/news/70_of_people_can_hear_this_silent_gif/141007

Individuals who mentioned they could hear a noise even though the gif is soundless can be categorised as displaying the “McGurk Effect”. This effect is said to occur when people instinctively match a sound to something they are looking at. That is, their brains “trick” them into hearing the sound simply because it is expecting a sound.

Not everyone experiences the McGurk effect thought and it is quite a rare neurological condition. When one experiences the effect, their senses blend in such way that one sense automatically triggers another.

The gif artists said that the reason why people think they can hear the thump or thud is due to the shake in the picture, not the pylon actually jumping and hitting the ground. They went on to say that the pylons could be taken out of the gif image and the ground just shakes, and people would still hear the thud. The pylons are only in the picture to give it some height. - http://www.disclose.tv/news/70_of_people_can_hear_this_silent_gif/141007

Did you hear the thud? Or perhaps a “boing”?! Hearing sounds that aren’t even there is just crazy, but it is all part of how our brains work! I hope you learnt something new today too!

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