SHS 367: Language Science (2025 Spring A)
Speech Perception Field Report
1. Reverse Lyrics - “Stairway to Heaven”
Explanation of top-down effects: Top-down effects occur when our brain uses prior knowledge or
expectations to interpret information. In the case of reverse lyrics, even though there are
actually no words, our mind can fill in the gaps with what it “wants” to hear, based on the
expectations we have of the songs. It's a phenomenon that demonstrates how our brain not only
processes what we perceive, but also makes assumptions to fill in the information.
Personal and other person's reaction: Listening to the song backwards for the first time, I was
surprised as I tried to identify something that sounded familiar. My companion, at first, was also
confused, but when I showed the “reversed” lyrics, we both began to hear the words the video
suggested, even though we knew they were not real. It was a strange experience because,
even though I knew they were not the real letters, my mind still tried to make sense of them.
2. Bad Lip-Reading - “The Hunger Games”
Personal and other person's reaction: The video gave me a lot of laughs, as the words didn't
match what was seen on the actors' lips at all, but somehow the phrases seemed to fit perfectly.
My companion, who is a fan of the saga, was also very amused to hear the absurd new
dialogue, although he was surprised at how well they matched the lip movements. It was a good
example of how our expectations of what people should say can cause us to see something
completely different from what is actually happening.
3. Misheard Lyrics - “O Fortuna”
Personal and other person's reaction: At first, I couldn't stop laughing when I saw how the
misinterpreted lyrics had nothing to do with the original music. It was interesting to see how the
other person was also surprised to hear those words that, although they made no sense,
seemed very logical in the context of the melody. This video made me reflect on how our mind
can make us believe things that are not present, simply because they sound “right” to us at the
time.
4. McGurk Effect
Explanation of the McGurk effect: The McGurk effect demonstrates how vision and hearing
combine in speech perception. In the video, the sound of one syllable is paired with the lip
movement of a different syllable. What happened was that the other person saw a lip movement
that did not match what he heard, and ended up perceiving a completely different sound. This
phenomenon shows how our perceptions of what we hear can be altered by what we see, which
highlights how interdependent these senses are when we process speech.
Personal and other person's reaction: My reaction was one of amazement, because even
though I knew what was going to happen, seeing the effect in action was amazing. The other
person was really impressed, as she could not believe that something as simple as lip
movement could change what she “heard”. We were both amazed at how sight can alter so
much of what we perceive of sound.
