The characters lending their support to either side of the EU referendum campaign sometimes seem to attract more attention than the facts themselves. But even if you aren’t already sick of the sight of Farage, Gove and Cameron arguing to leave or remain, it may be worth turning off the TV and listening to their opinions on the radio instead.
This is because what we see can have a significant effect on what we hear. A famous scientific phenomenon known as the McGurk effect shows that vision is more powerful than hearing. In an experiment, someone was recorded saying “ba, ba, ba”. When this was played to people with no video, they heard it correctly. But when it was played with a video of someone mouthing “fa, fa, fa”, the participants heard that instead – proof that our auditory system can be overridden by our visual system.
This is a technical example, but it shows how influential seeing who is saying something can be on how we hear it. Who knows what sort of effect the fluffy nebula of Boris’s hair – or Farage’s garish ties – might be having on their listeners.
Dr Daniel Glaser is director of Science Gallery at King’s College London
