Person view, With whom we talk, it helps us to understand her statements six times over – US scientists observed. The research results were published in the journal “PLoS ONE”. It is difficult to understand what a friend is saying in a loud party, until we see his face. – Our brain uses the image of our interlocutor's face and mouth movements, in this way, it helps us to interpret what we hear. Such help is especially important when talking in a noisy place – explains Dr. Wei Ji Ma of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, lead author of the research. – Most people with normal hearing can lip read very well, often without even knowing it – convinces Dr. Ma. – Lip reading enhances comprehension of the words o at elevated noise levels 10 do 60 percent – explains the scientist. Although he adds, that his team's research showed, that for lip reading to be effective, it is necessary to be able to hear a very soft sound. Researchers conducted a series of experiments in which participants watched a video with a person saying some words. If the person was shown normally, the participants easily combined auditory and visual information, which was very helpful in recognizing words with increased background noise. Interestingly, when participants were only shown a cartoon movie with a speaking figure, visual information was also helpful, though to a lesser extent. In another study, participants were presented with a video of a person saying a different word than that, which the respondents heard at the same time – it has been observed that in such a situation the brain integrates two stimuli and people read the information as a completely different word.
Researchers developed a mathematical model thanks to which they were able to predict how often the participant would understand correctly the words presented to him in various situations.. “People combine two stimuli and what they perceive depends on their reliability” – explains Mu. And this is how it illustrates this relationship: the brain works like a detective, who has two witnesses to the crime – one is very precise and reliable, the other is not that credible. His task is to obtain information from both of them and analyze their credibility in establishing his version of events.
