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The belief that our senses share sensations or help contribute to each other's experiences is nothing new. When food smells good it obviously tastes good, but how enticing it looks also plays a role in how much we enjoy our meal.
Don't get me wrong. I love me a sloppy looking cobbler slathered in ice cream, but there's a reason why people's Instagram feeds are packed with photos of delicious-looking food. Like seeing that melted cheese hang down from a broken apart cheesesteak makes your mouth water for a reason.
So those shared sensory experiences can be found in a bunch of different places. Like this very strange GIF of an electrical tower skipping rope with its pals.
Take a look at it. Do you hear any sounds when you watch this gif?
DeBruine was trying to get to the bottom of why people heard something from a silent GIF image. This one explanation she came across is pretty interesting.
My favourite explanation so far is that this triggers the acoustic reflex, which is usually triggered by speech or loud noises. https://t.co/OjHX84xs4C
β Lisa DeBruine π³οΈβπ (@lisadebruine) December 3, 2017
The "acoustic reflex" is triggered by the image likely because our brain anticipates that whatever's going on the GIF will most likely produce a loud noise that our ears need to protect itself against.
She involved the original animator of the GIF in the conversation to try and get further context.
Just re-stating for the morning crowd that this cool animation was created by @IamHappyToast (thanks to those who tracked down this info).
β Lisa DeBruine π³οΈβπ (@lisadebruine) December 4, 2017
And a conversation began on what exact part of the image triggers our acoustic reflex.
Hey! Do you have a version without the camera shake? Curious if it causes the same auditory hallucinations.
The thump is almost entirely in the shake, if you crop out the pylons themselves you can still hear it. They just give it height. pic.twitter.com/3LZK1g24yZ
The culprit is probably this little part of the GIF here, that "shake" is what does the trick, most likely.
DeBruine asked the animator for some help so she could try and replicate the sound that isn't there.
Is there a particular technique/algorithm you use to get the shaking so realistic, or just a good artistic eye? Iβm going to see if I can produce simplified versions to test the parameters of the illusion.
β Lisa DeBruine π³οΈβπ (@lisadebruine) December 4, 2017
And they obliged.
Not on that one, it was just a quick random camera shake that happened to get it almost right, It could be improved with more of a degrading wave, but I tend not to bother putting that much effort in to my gifs :D
It doesn't seem a specific action in the GIF is what ultimately causes the "sound" either, just that jarring shake. For example, take a look at these action GIFs and see if you hear anything.
