Acoustic and visual phonetic features in the mcgurk effect — an audiovisual speech illusion

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaisa Tiippana ◽  
Mikko Tiainen ◽  
Lari Vainio ◽  
Martti Vainio
Keyword(s):  
Mcgurk Effect ◽  
Audiovisual Speech ◽  
Phonetic Features

scholarly journals Animated virtual characters to explore audio-visual speech in controlled and naturalistic environments

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Raphaël Thézé ◽  
Mehdi Ali Gadiri ◽  
Louis Albert ◽  
Antoine Provost ◽  
Anne-Lise Giraud ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Mcgurk Effect ◽  
Visual Speech ◽  
Natural Speech ◽  
Virtual Characters ◽  
Speech Stimuli ◽  
Stimulus Timing ◽  
Phonetic Features ◽  
Set Up

Abstract Natural speech is processed in the brain as a mixture of auditory and visual features. An example of the importance of visual speech is the McGurk effect and related perceptual illusions that result from mismatching auditory and visual syllables. Although the McGurk effect has widely been applied to the exploration of audio-visual speech processing, it relies on isolated syllables, which severely limits the conclusions that can be drawn from the paradigm. In addition, the extreme variability and the quality of the stimuli usually employed prevents comparability across studies. To overcome these limitations, we present an innovative methodology using 3D virtual characters with realistic lip movements synchronized on computer-synthesized speech. We used commercially accessible and affordable tools to facilitate reproducibility and comparability, and the set-up was validated on 24 participants performing a perception task. Within complete and meaningful French sentences, we paired a labiodental fricative viseme (i.e. /v/) with a bilabial occlusive phoneme (i.e. /b/). This audiovisual mismatch is known to induce the illusion of hearing /v/ in a proportion of trials. We tested the rate of the illusion while varying the magnitude of background noise and audiovisual lag. Overall, the effect was observed in 40% of trials. The proportion rose to about 50% with added background noise and up to 66% when controlling for phonetic features. Our results conclusively demonstrate that computer-generated speech stimuli are judicious, and that they can supplement natural speech with higher control over stimulus timing and content.

scholarly journals Distinct cortical locations for integration of audiovisual speech and the McGurk effect

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura C. Erickson ◽  
Brandon A. Zielinski ◽  
Jennifer E. V. Zielinski ◽  
Guoying Liu ◽  
Peter E. Turkeltaub ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mcgurk Effect ◽  
Audiovisual Speech

Sound Location Can Influence Audiovisual Speech Perception When Spatial Attention Is Manipulated

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riikka Möttönen ◽  
Kaisa Tiippana ◽  
Mikko Sams ◽  
Hanna Puharinen
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Mcgurk Effect ◽  
Visual Speech ◽  
Audiovisual Speech ◽  
Sound Location ◽  
Audiovisual Speech Perception ◽  
The Right ◽  
Talking Face

AbstractAudiovisual speech perception has been considered to operate independent of sound location, since the McGurk effect (altered auditory speech perception caused by conflicting visual speech) has been shown to be unaffected by whether speech sounds are presented in the same or different location as a talking face. Here we show that sound location effects arise with manipulation of spatial attention. Sounds were presented from loudspeakers in five locations: the centre (location of the talking face) and 45°/90° to the left/right. Auditory spatial attention was focused on a location by presenting the majority (90%) of sounds from this location. In Experiment 1, the majority of sounds emanated from the centre, and the McGurk effect was enhanced there. In Experiment 2, the major location was 90° to the left, causing the McGurk effect to be stronger on the left and centre than on the right. Under control conditions, when sounds were presented with equal probability from all locations, the McGurk effect tended to be stronger for sounds emanating from the centre, but this tendency was not reliable. Additionally, reaction times were the shortest for a congruent audiovisual stimulus, and this was the case independent of location. Our main finding is that sound location can modulate audiovisual speech perception, and that spatial attention plays a role in this modulation.

Reducing Playback Rate of Audiovisual Speech Leads to a Surprising Decrease in the McGurk Effect

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 19-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
John F. Magnotti ◽  
Debshila Basu Mallick ◽  
Michael S. Beauchamp
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Mcgurk Effect ◽  
Visual Speech ◽  
Large Individual ◽  
Audiovisual Speech ◽  
Unexpected Finding ◽  
Video Playback ◽  
Natural Rate ◽  
Audiovisual Speech Perception ◽  
Bayesian Integration

We report the unexpected finding that slowing video playback decreases perception of the McGurk effect. This reduction is counter-intuitive because the illusion depends on visual speech influencing the perception of auditory speech, and slowing speech should increase the amount of visual information available to observers. We recorded perceptual data from 110 subjects viewing audiovisual syllables (either McGurk or congruent control stimuli) played back at one of three rates: the rate used by the talker during recording (the natural rate), a slow rate (50% of natural), or a fast rate (200% of natural). We replicated previous studies showing dramatic variability in McGurk susceptibility at the natural rate, ranging from 0–100% across subjects and from 26–76% across the eight McGurk stimuli tested. Relative to the natural rate, slowed playback reduced the frequency of McGurk responses by 11% (79% of subjects showed a reduction) and reduced congruent accuracy by 3% (25% of subjects showed a reduction). Fast playback rate had little effect on McGurk responses or congruent accuracy. To determine whether our results are consistent with Bayesian integration, we constructed a Bayes-optimal model that incorporated two assumptions: individuals combine auditory and visual information according to their reliability, and changing playback rate affects sensory reliability. The model reproduced both our findings of large individual differences and the playback rate effect. This work illustrates that surprises remain in the McGurk effect and that Bayesian integration provides a useful framework for understanding audiovisual speech perception.

scholarly journals “Paying” attention to audiovisual speech: Do incongruent stimuli incur greater costs?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Violet Aurora Brown ◽  
Julia Feld Strand
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Audiovisual Integration ◽  
Mcgurk Effect ◽  
Visual Speech ◽  
Visual Signal ◽  
Audiovisual Speech ◽  
Dual Task Paradigm ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
Illusory Percept

The McGurk effect is a multisensory phenomenon in which discrepant auditory and visual speech signals typically result in an illusory percept (McGurk & MacDonald, 1976). McGurk stimuli are often used in studies assessing the attentional requirements of audiovisual integration (e.g., Alsius et al., 2005), but no study has directly compared the costs associated with integrating congruent versus incongruent audiovisual speech. Some evidence suggests that the McGurk effect may not be representative of naturalistic audiovisual speech processing—susceptibility to the McGurk effect is not associated with the ability to derive benefit from the addition of the visual signal (Van Engen et al., 2017), and distinct cortical regions are recruited when processing congruent versus incongruent speech (Erickson et al., 2014). In two experiments, one using response times to identify congruent and incongruent syllables and one using a dual-task paradigm, we assessed whether congruent and incongruent audiovisual speech incur different attentional costs. We demonstrated that response times to both the speech task (Experiment 1) and a secondary vibrotactile task (Experiment 2) were indistinguishable for congruent compared to incongruent syllables, but McGurk fusions were responded to more quickly than McGurk non-fusions. These results suggest that despite documented differences in how congruent and incongruent stimuli are processed (Erickson et al., 2014; Van Engen, Xie, & Chandrasekaran, 2017), they do not appear to differ in terms of processing time or effort. However, responses that result in McGurk fusions are processed more quickly than those that result in non-fusions, though attentional cost is comparable for the two response types.

Own-race faces promote integrated audiovisual speech information

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110444
Author(s):  
Yuta Ujiie ◽  
Kohske Takahashi
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Mcgurk Effect ◽  
The Other ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Audiovisual Speech ◽  
Audiovisual Speech Perception ◽  
Facial Identity ◽  
Race Effect ◽  
Speech Information ◽  
Effect Experiment

The other-race effect indicates a perceptual advantage when processing own-race faces. This effect has been demonstrated in individuals’ recognition of facial identity and emotional expressions. However, it remains unclear whether the other-race effect also exists in multisensory domains. We conducted two experiments to provide evidence for the other-race effect in facial speech recognition, using the McGurk effect. Experiment 1 tested this issue among East Asian adults, examining the magnitude of the McGurk effect during stimuli using speakers from two different races (own-race vs. other-race). We found that own-race faces induced a stronger McGurk effect than other-race faces. Experiment 2 indicated that the other-race effect was not simply due to different levels of attention being paid to the mouths of own- and other-race speakers. Our findings demonstrated that own-race faces enhance the weight of visual input during audiovisual speech perception, and they provide evidence of the own-race effect in the audiovisual interaction for speech perception in adults.

scholarly journals The other-race effect on the McGurk effect in infancy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuta Ujiie ◽  
So Kanazawa ◽  
Masami K. Yamaguchi
Keyword(s):  
Processing System ◽  
Mcgurk Effect ◽  
The Other ◽  
Audiovisual Speech ◽  
Race Effect ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Face Stimuli ◽  
Perceptual Narrowing ◽  
Sensory Process

AbstractThis study investigated the difference in the McGurk effect between own-race-face and other-race-face stimuli among Japanese infants from 5 to 9 months of age. The McGurk effect results from infants using information from a speaker’s face in audiovisual speech integration. We hypothesized that the McGurk effect varies with the speaker’s race because of the other-race effect, which indicates an advantage for own-race faces in our face processing system. Experiment 1 demonstrated the other-race effect on audiovisual speech integration such that the infants ages 5–6 months and 8–9 months are likely to perceive the McGurk effect when observing an own-race-face speaker, but not when observing an other-race-face speaker. Experiment 2 found the other-race effect on audiovisual speech integration regardless of irrelevant speech identity cues. Experiment 3 confirmed the infants’ ability to differentiate two auditory syllables. These results showed that infants are likely to integrate voice with an own-race-face, but not with an other-race-face. This implies the role of experiences with own-race-faces in the development of audiovisual speech integration. Our findings also contribute to the discussion of whether perceptual narrowing is a modality-general, pan-sensory process.

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