Multisensory Perception
Key Words:
o Unisensory perception = how we perceive things in just one sense/modality e.g.,
vision.
o Synaesthesia = mixing up senses.
o Proprioception = the feeling that your body is part of you, ‘sense of self’.
Key Theories:
McGurk Effect: a perceptual phenomenon that shows an interaction between
hearing and vision in speech perception – an auditory component of one sound is
paired with the visual component of a different sound. Often vision dominates, even
if you know about the effect it still works.
The ventriloquist effect: the tendency for sounds to appear to be coming from
plausible objects, regardless of the actual source of the sound. E.g., in cinemas the
sound seems as if it’s coming from the actor’s mouths on screen but it’s actually
coming from speakers from around the room.
Bounce effect: audio effects judgement of spatial location when stimuli is
ambiguous. (Watanabe & Shimojo, 2001 and Alais & Burr, 2004)
Combinational (‘weak’ shape) theory: the shape of an odorant molecule is
recognised by the odour receptor, a lock and key mechanism.
Key Studies:
Szycik et al (2009): differences in performance on an audio-visual task between
schizophrenics and controls – differences in the number of active brain regions
White et al (2014): the McGurk effect was stronger in the healthy group than the
schizophrenic group = schizophrenics don’t really look at expressions/lip reading.
Sapir (2009): different phonetic sounds associated with types of shapes – influences
multi-sensory perception.
Seo & Hummel (2011): congruent sounds lead to higher rated odour pleasantness =
sound can affect smell, a pleasant sound can make a bad smell, smell better
(audition & smell).
Zampini & Spence (2004): the louder sound led to better tasting crisps; they were
perceived to be fresher (audition & taste).
Stafford et al (2013): in a music environment the drink was rated the sweetest
compared to any other environment (audition & taste).
Duffy et al (2004): different genotypes are more/less sensitive to bitterness, people
least sensitive to bitterness consumed the most alcohol (applications).
Higgs et al (2008): p’s drinking the higher percentage alcoholic drink drank it slower
than the ones drinking a lower percentage drink and p’s in the middle group felt the
drink was getting stronger over time (applications).
Soussignan et al (1997): 3-day old babies showed different reactions to different
smells but their facial expressions weren’t congruent to the nice smelling odours =
Key Words:
o Unisensory perception = how we perceive things in just one sense/modality e.g.,
vision.
o Synaesthesia = mixing up senses.
o Proprioception = the feeling that your body is part of you, ‘sense of self’.
Key Theories:
McGurk Effect: a perceptual phenomenon that shows an interaction between
hearing and vision in speech perception – an auditory component of one sound is
paired with the visual component of a different sound. Often vision dominates, even
if you know about the effect it still works.
The ventriloquist effect: the tendency for sounds to appear to be coming from
plausible objects, regardless of the actual source of the sound. E.g., in cinemas the
sound seems as if it’s coming from the actor’s mouths on screen but it’s actually
coming from speakers from around the room.
Bounce effect: audio effects judgement of spatial location when stimuli is
ambiguous. (Watanabe & Shimojo, 2001 and Alais & Burr, 2004)
Combinational (‘weak’ shape) theory: the shape of an odorant molecule is
recognised by the odour receptor, a lock and key mechanism.
Key Studies:
Szycik et al (2009): differences in performance on an audio-visual task between
schizophrenics and controls – differences in the number of active brain regions
White et al (2014): the McGurk effect was stronger in the healthy group than the
schizophrenic group = schizophrenics don’t really look at expressions/lip reading.
Sapir (2009): different phonetic sounds associated with types of shapes – influences
multi-sensory perception.
Seo & Hummel (2011): congruent sounds lead to higher rated odour pleasantness =
sound can affect smell, a pleasant sound can make a bad smell, smell better
(audition & smell).
Zampini & Spence (2004): the louder sound led to better tasting crisps; they were
perceived to be fresher (audition & taste).
Stafford et al (2013): in a music environment the drink was rated the sweetest
compared to any other environment (audition & taste).
Duffy et al (2004): different genotypes are more/less sensitive to bitterness, people
least sensitive to bitterness consumed the most alcohol (applications).
Higgs et al (2008): p’s drinking the higher percentage alcoholic drink drank it slower
than the ones drinking a lower percentage drink and p’s in the middle group felt the
drink was getting stronger over time (applications).
Soussignan et al (1997): 3-day old babies showed different reactions to different
smells but their facial expressions weren’t congruent to the nice smelling odours =
