CROSS-MODAL ILLUSIONS
When what you hear doesn’t match what you see, your perception of reality is in trouble. Most of the time, you can rely on your brain to quickly make sense of what you see, hear, and feel. Your brain makes best guesses based on past experience—and sometimes it makes mistakes. Cross-modal perception is especially important for immersive virtual reality. If what you hear doesn't match exactly what you see, the experience won't feel real.
TRY THIS!
BAR OR FAR?
Video courtesy of Myles Power, YouTuber
WHAT'S GOING ON?
In the video, the woman’s lips on the left are mouthing “far,” but the audio is playing “bar.” Your brain tries to make sense of the conflicting information. Usually, your brain chooses the sound it sees, instead of the sound it hears. Your brain constructs your understanding of reality by sorting through and prioritizing thousands of sensory messages.
