ISCA Archive Eurospeech 1999
ISCA Archive Eurospeech 1999

Are the mcgurk illusions affected by left or right presentation of the speaker face?

C. Colin, M. Radeau

When conflicting syllables are presented in the auditory and visual modalities, two kinds of illusions have been reported by McGurk and MacDonald (1976): combinations (cluster responses) and fusions (fused responses). In the present experiment, we examined the lateralization issue of these illusions. In one half of the Session: the center of the TV screen was displaced 5° to the right of straight ahead and in the other half, it was displaced 5° to the left. The sound, played at an average level of 40dB, always came from straight ahead. Neither for fusions nor for combinations did we found any difference in the percentage of illusion as a function of the hemifield in which the visual stimuli were presented. This result does not corroborate Diesch’s (1995) finding. Using a somewhat different method, this author found a left hemifield advantage for fusions and a right hemifield advantage for combinations.