I Can See Your Lips Moving—Why What You Hear Is Affected By What You See
From ventriloquists to crime witnesses, the story of how your brain combines visual and auditory signals to make sense of the world
When we see an event, we start to make assumptions. We use the context in which we find ourselves to make sense of what we see, but some researchers have suggested that context can also affect what we hear. It’s a psychological phenomenon that is no stranger to the courts.
Early in the morning of 21st February 2010, Officer Wes Thompson spotted a couple huddled in a porch. The man was yelling at the woman. The woman was crying. Something was clearly amiss, so Officer Thompson went over to find out exactly what was going on.
On closer inspection he saw that the woman, later identified as Angel Vanarman, was bleeding from the mouth. The man, Gerald Sandefur, told the woman to say nothing and explained to the officer that she’d been attacked. Officer Thompson looked around but could see no one else nearby. He asked for more details, and as Sandefur continued his explanation Vanarman, out of Sandefur’s view, pointed at Sandefur and mouthed the words, ‘He hit me.’ Sandefur was promptly handcuffed and arrested.
