I am a theoretical physicist and currently Director of 
May 19, 2011
The McGurk effect
Blog reader Henry sent me the link to this clip from the BBC program Horizon of what is known as the McGurk effect, that shows that when the brain receives two different inputs, one aural and one visual, the brain forces you to register just one. Lawrence Rosenblum of the University of California, Riverside explains this effect and demonstrates how in this particular case the visual overrides the sound.
If we cannot do such a simple act of multitasking, imagine how unlikely it is that we can do more complex and challenging multitasking.
Comments
I wonder if this explains why I can never really listen to what my wife is saying when I'm reading.
She'll just talk and talk while I'm reading and then suddenly, it's "Dean, stop ignoring me!"
:-)
I listened to this a 1 hour interview on the local radio station about this and other similar effects. I cant remember the name of it now, but it related to the physical sensation of air touching your skin when various sounds were made could alter what you "heard".... even if they were made somewhere innoucous like you ankle of thigh.