The McGurk effect

[pne]

Have a look at, and listen to, this video; the video is someone pronouncing one sound, while the audio is the person pronouncing another sound, and apparently most people hear something that's a blend of the two—showing that the visual influences your perception. (For comparison, close your eyes and listen again, and you'll likely hear what he said.)

FWIW, I "heard" a retroflex sound rather than the dental/alveolar that the page predicted! But certainly, it was a type of "d" to me.

Comments

[uon.livejournal.com]

I've you've not read it already, you'll very possibly enjoy the O'Reilly Mind Hacks Book (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/mindhks/): basically a collection of generalised optical illusions such as the McGurk effect, with explanations of how they give various hints as to the internal workings of the human brain.

The authors also have a blog (http://www.mindhacks.com/), syndicated to LJ (http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=mind_hacks).