Abstract
Expectations and prior knowledge can strongly influence our perception. In vision research, such top-down modulation of perceptual processing has been extensively studied using ambiguous stimuli, such as reversible figures. Here, we propose a novel method to address this issue in the auditory modality during speech perception by means of Mondgreens and Soramimi which represent song lyrics with the potential for misperception within one or across two languages, respectively. We demonstrate that such phenomena can be induced by visual presentation of the alternative percept and occur with a sufficient probability to exploit them in neuroscientific experiments. Song familiarity did not influence the occurrence of such altered perception indicating that this tool can be employed irrespective of the participants’ knowledge of music. On the other hand, previous knowledge of the alternative percept had a strong impact on the strength of altered perception which is in line with frequent reports that these phenomena can have long-lasting effects. Finally, we demonstrate that the strength of changes in perception correlated with the extent to which they were experienced as amusing as well as the vocabulary of the participants as source of potential interpretations. These findings suggest that such perceptional phenomena might be linked to the pleasant experience of resolving ambiguity which is in line with the long-existing theory of Hermann von Helmholtz that perception and problem-solving recruit similar processes.
Highlights
Our perception of the environment and ourselves is strongly shaped by our expectations
A principal advantage of examining altered perception in the auditory modality is that acoustic information is expressed in the temporal domain which offers the opportunity to exactly pinpoint the onset of events with altered perception
Studying such phenomena in the auditory domain enables to overcome methodological obstacles typically encountered during visual presentation of reversible figures that induce spontaneous as well as unpredictable switches between two competing percepts without sufficient temporal stability necessitating modification of the stimuli, such addition of embossing [15]
Summary
Our perception of the environment and ourselves is strongly shaped by our expectations. We introduce a novel approach to induce such altered perception of verbal messages by means of misheard song lyrics This phenomenon was named ‘‘Mondegreen’’ in reference to its first description by Sylvia Wright for the Scottish folk song ‘‘The Bonny Earl O’Morray’’ [11] in which the author understood in its last line ‘‘They have slain Earl O’Morray/and Lady Mondegreen’’ instead of ‘‘They have slain the Earl O’Morray/and laid him on the green’’. In spite of the popularity of Mondegreens and Soramimi with regular radio and television broadcasting devoted to this topic, no scientific studies have been conducted to examine this phenomenon This is even more surprising as people often report that the altered perception can be quite persistent occurring every time the song is heard, making Mondegreens and Soramimi a valuable tool to induce plasticity within the auditory system. Competence for the language of the songs with potential Soramimi (English) was expected to be a protective factor against across-language misperceptions into the native language of the participants (German) as we hypothesized that such misperceptions are partly driven by the fact that unknown foreign words are automatically replaced by known words of the native language of the listener
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
