First watch this very short small video (216k)and carefully note to yourself what the guy is saying.

(There is actually an even smaller video here if you have a weak dialup connection but the instructions are right there and I think it is more fun to watch it with a Zen mind (no expectations) first.)

Then read the following instructions:

What am I saying? Play the clip several times, alternating between looking at the talking head while listening, and listening with your eyes shut. Most adults (98%) think they are hearing “DA” - a so called “fused respons” – where the “D” is a result of an audio-visual illusion. In reality you are hearing the sound “BA“, while you are seeing the lip movements “GA“.

The “McGurk effect” was first described by Harry McGurk and John MacDonald in “Hearing lips and seeing voices”, Nature 264, 746-748 (1976).

Large movie (400*300 px) [268K]

(To view these files, your will need QuickTime 5 (or later)

(which if you don’t have you can download at the original site)

“Pramana means proof. Vaisnava philosophers condense all the different types of pramanas into three: pratyaksa, anumana, and sabda.

“Pratyaksa means direct evidence by the senses. But since the senses are imperfect, pratyaksa often has to be corrected by higher knowledge*.

“Anumana refers to deductive and inductive logic, which depends on the validity of its premises and reasons, and so cannot prove anything with final certainty.

“Sabda means receiving knowledge from authoritative sources. Vedic knowledge is sabda-pramana. This is particularly applicable to transcendental subject matter, which cannot be understood by the empirical and theorizing methods.”

NBS 59

*Which today’s exercise served as an example of — what you thought you heard was corrected by the presenter of the video who had knowledge of the McGurk Effect.