Carey's Festive Hit Will Completely Baffle Your Brain

www.iflscience.com...

Can you hear Mariah Carey’s voice, you shouldn't be able to.
But many do.

The track is a MIDI recording of the song – a format that can carry basic data such as pitch, notation, volume and velocity, but which can’t capture an actual human voice. Regardless, the video has gone viral recently, after listeners around the world became convinced that they were able to detect Carey’s famous dulcet tones on the track.

New Scientist decided to investigate this effect by seeking the opinion of Diana Deutsch, a cognitive psychologist at the University of California, San Diego. Perhaps the most amazing discovery they made was that Deutsch had never actually heard the original version of the song. Because of this, she was completely unable to detect Carey’s voice.

This lends credibility to the notion that listeners’ brains are somehow adding in the voice because they are so familiar with the track that they simply expect it to be there. Naturally, this can’t happen in those who have never heard it.

While this might sound like a failing on the brain’s part, many cognitive scientists believe that our ability to fill in the gaps in sensory information is actually a useful evolutionary trait. It’s called top-down processing, and was first proposed in the 1970s to explain how people are able to identify objects and people from just a small amount of data.

youtu.be...



I heard it, but according to Diana Deutsch, who had never heard the song before, she did not.


How trippy version of Mariah Carey Christmas hit fools the brain
www.newscientist.com...

Visual Perception Theory
www.simplypsychology.org...

a reply to: Stormdancer777

To me it sounds like someone trying to mimic her voice on an electronic piano or organ. I do not hear her voice.

a reply to: Stormdancer777

I don't hear any voice, all I hear is horrible piano...

originally posted by: Blazemore2000
a reply to: Stormdancer777

To me it sounds like someone trying to mimic her voice on an electronic piano or organ. I do not hear her voice.

I hear it but it fades in and out, maybe if you try again

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: Stormdancer777

I don't hear any voice, all I hear is horrible piano...

It seem I hear it mostly in the middle of the video

I hear it when I concentrate on trying to hear it. Sort of like those images you stare at but for your ears instead.

a reply to: Stormdancer777

For the sake of argument: do I want to hear it?

I am sure I can find a way to imagine it from all the noise... But why would hearing it as it is (aka, no voice) be bad?

It is kinda creepy, can only hear a "voice" in certain parts mainly the "all I want for christmas" parts

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

When I concentrate I can see swirls on a homogeneous surface.

Means nothing though.

a reply to: Stormdancer777

Try again?!?!?!? Do you not realize how much I loathe most Christmas music? Well... ok... just for you...


And having tried again... nope... still just electronic piano.

Merry Christmas btw.

originally posted by: swanne
When I concentrate I can see swirls on a homogeneous surface.

Means nothing though.

Not really the same though as the homogenous surface is not trying to mimic swirls. The audio is obviously set up to try and trick your hearing. I can hear it at times but I need to make an effort. I tried playing in the background while reading something else and it only sounded like off key piano.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

I am just saying that Carey's Festive Hit certainly does not Completely Baffle My Brain.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

I hear it when I concentrate on trying to hear it. Sort of like those images you stare at but for your ears instead.

It says

The theory states that the brain essentially hypothesizes about its surroundings from the limited sensory information it receives, thereby allowing us to perceive a full and rich world with no gaps in it. To do so, it draws on past experiences and stored information, placing present data into some sort of probable context from which it can then extrapolate.

However, since the human brain didn’t originally evolve to listen to Christmas songs on repeat, it tends to get a little confused when it can’t find Mariah Carey.

originally posted by: Blazemore2000
a reply to: Stormdancer777

Try again?!?!?!? Do you not realize how much I loathe most Christmas music? Well... ok... just for you...

And having tried again... nope... still just electronic piano.

Merry Christmas btw.

Merry Christmas

a reply to: Stormdancer777

Very cool!

I wasn't sure which song it was at first, but once I started playing it I recognized it. While it's not spot on for her voice, it does sound very much like it. As others have said, the disjointed piano does a good job emulating it. If anything, just shows how talented of a singer she is to hit the notes like that; even if I really don't like any of her music.

originally posted by: Discotech
It is kinda creepy, can only hear a "voice" in certain parts mainly the "all I want for christmas" parts

me too, although I listened before I read, thinking her voice was in the video, I wonder if that makes a difference?

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: Stormdancer777

For the sake of argument: do I want to hear it?

I am sure I can find a way to imagine it from all the noise... But why would hearing it as it is (aka, no voice) be bad?

Because it is strange?

Pretty weird but cool.

You might want to add an epileptic disclaimer to your OP, just saying

This is reminiscent of animated GIFs that you could swear have audio, such as this one:




If you concentrate on this next one, you can swear you hear (and almost feel) the thumping of the elephanst as they hit the seesaw:



This also reminds me of the "minion" McDonald's happy meal toy (from the movie Minions) that made a sound that was for the most part "ehh ehh ehh", but some people thought the little toy was saying "What the F***" (WTF). Sound engineers did tests to show it really was just saying "ehh ehh ehh", and the people who thought otherwise were simply hearing the bad phrase in their brains only.