The real lessons of the Yanny/Laurel saga
What saga?
If you know all about the Yanny/Laurel meme, you should skip down to the next section.
But if you’ve been living under the internet equivalent of a rock in the last week, let me fill you in. The Yanny/Laurel meme is 2018’s version of the blue and black (or is it white and gold?) dress — except this time in audio.
Take a listen:
As hard to believe as it is, some people hear this recording say something like “Yanny” or “Yammi”, but others hear “Laurel”.
It turns out one group is more likely to be ‘right’ — but being right has a downside
As someone who was sure that dress was white and gold (and therefore wrong[1]), I was relieved to find that this time I had it right.
The audio clip is in fact from dictionary.com’s guide to pronouncing the word laurel:
Before those of you who also heard laurel get too excited, it’s likely you only heard it correctly because you’ve lost some of your ability to hear high frequencies. Sometimes being right isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
An analysis of the audio file reveals two overlapping sounds. Your brain can’t process both at once[2]:
- If you’re hearing laurel, then you’re processing the lower frequency sounds
- If you’re hearing yanny, then you’re processing the higher frequency sounds
Your ability to perceive and process higher frequency sounds declines with age[3].
What we should learn from Yanny/Laurel meme (but probably won’t)
The Yanny/Laurel controversy teaches us some powerful lessons about what it means to be human.
Not everyone interprets the world in the same way
As people, we tend to think that others are inherently like us. We naturally expect other people, not only see (and hear) the world as we do but share our opinions, values preference and habits.
Psychologists call this phenomenon the false consensus effect[4].
Assuming that others interpret the world as we do means we struggle to be empathetic to those around us. To break this cycle, we need to continually ask those we disagree with whether they’re seeing the same things we are.
We make snap judgements all the time, either because we have too much information or not enough — and we don’t even know it’s happening
One of the reasons people hear different things in the clip is that there’s too much information. Our brain disregards some of that information to make sense of it[2].
On the other hand, we see the dress as different colours because we’re missing information.
The dress is seen as blue and black if you assume the photo is lit by a warm illumination source (e.g. electric lighting).
If you see it as white and gold, you’re likely assuming the photo is lit by natural light.
In both cases, our brains change the amount of information we’re interpreting, without us even noticing. We continually need to question how we know what we know.
Sometimes it’s impossible to see the world from a different point of view
Many things in life are ambiguous. Sometimes, all it takes for you to see another interpretation is for someone to point it out to you.
The image above can be seen as both a rabbit and a duck. No matter which one you saw first, most people are able to see the other image after they’re alerted to the alternative possibility.
But sometimes we can’t see the alternatives. I know that dress is blue and black, but no matter what I do, I just can’t see it that way. I also can’t hear ‘yanny’. But I know they’re both there.
Often when we just can’t see someone else’s interpretation, we write it off as invalid (or wrong). When we don’t have the luxury of an internet-wide search to find the truth, we need to trust others when they say they aren’t seeing what we are.
We’re way too quick to accuse others of being wrong
Whether the clip says yanny or laurel has almost no real-world impact. That didn’t stop people getting a little passionate about who’s right:
These types of arguments are called infallibility battles[5]. They happen not because people care about the underlying issue but because they become increasingly invested in not being wrong as the argument progresses.
Seeing as most disagreements arise from differences in our perceptions, the easiest way to avoid an infallibility battle is to try to find a way you can both be right. Like the dress or yanny/laurel, even seemingly contradictory statements can be integrated by finding the right perspective.
If we’re this confused about simple visual or auditory perception, what does that mean about everything else?
The lessons of yanny/laurel are compelling because the meme initially seems so simple: just four seconds of audio. The reality is far more complex.
Next time you’re in the middle of a disagreement, remember the lessons of yanny/laurel:
- check that other people are seeing the same facts you are
- double check for information you’re missing, assumptions you’ve made and information you’ve ignored
- don’t ignore points of view or interpretations simply because you can’t see them — assume all perceptions are valid
- rather than arguing right or wrong, work collaboratively to find out how you can both be right.
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[1] The retailer that sold the dress confirmed it’s coloured blue and black. See New York Daily News and Wikipedia for more.
[2] The Conversation’s article explains this phenomenon in greater detail.
[3] See this article from the ABC.
[4] Wikipedia explanation of the false consensus bias.
[5] See Psychology Today for more, including more tips on how to combat the phenomenon.
Unattributed graphics in this article were created by the author.
