ParaSummary Question 1 - CAT 2021
Passage:
McGurk and MacDonald (1976) reported a powerful multisensory illusion occurring with audio-visual speech. They recorded a voice articulating a consonant ‘ba-ba-ba’ and dubbed it with a face articulating another consonant ‘ga-ga-ga’. Even though the acoustic speech signal was well recognized alone, it was heard as another consonant after dubbing with incongruent visual speech i.e., ‘da-da-da’. The illusion, termed as the McGurk effect, has been replicated many times, and it has sparked an abundance of research. The reason for the great impact is that this is a striking demonstration of multisensory integration, where that auditory and visual information is merged into a unified, integrated percept.
A) Visual speech mismatched with auditory speech can result in the perception of an entirely different message: this illusion is known as the McGurk effect.
B) When the quality of auditory information is poor, the visual information wins over the auditory information.
C) The McGurk effect which is a demonstration of multisensory integration has been replicated many times.
D) When the auditory speech signal does not match the visual speech movements, the acoustic speech signal is confusing and integration of the two is imperfect.
Step-by-Step Explanation
- Correct Answer: A
- Explanation: The passage describes a specific auditory-visual illusion where hearing one speech sound while seeing facial movements for a different sound tricks the brain into perceiving a third, completely distinct sound. Option A outlines this core sensory mechanism and names the illusion accurately.
- FundaMakers Tip: Avoid Core Omissions. Option C is true according to the passage but functions as an incomplete summary because it completely leaves out what the McGurk effect actually is, failing to mention the audio-visual mismatch.