How do we pick the voice from the crowd?

jtotheizzoe:

Investigating the “cocktail party” problem, picking out voices from the din:

Imagine for a minute. You’re in a coffeeshop, or a bar, or at a swanky cocktail party (whichever you prefer). There are people around, chatting nearby. But you’re speaking to the person directly across from you. Somehow, you can pick their voice out of the chatter and attend to what they are saying, even though the conversations around you might be just as loud or louder (especially in a bar!) than the one you’re interested in.


Turns out it’s all about how your brain manages attention. More than that, your brain can emphasize the pattern of the individual speaker over the chaos of many. Get the full neuroscience rundown at Scicurious’ blog.

I can’t pick out a voice in a crowd. I have to lip read when there is background noise.

198 Notes/ Hide

  1. officially-whelmed reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  2. everlastinglotus reblogged this from mrorangeuke
  3. creoste reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  4. remango reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  5. freefallingarpeggios reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  6. ah-thenah reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  7. lucid-hills reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  8. neuromatic reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    Definitely and unsurprisingly attention. People with ADD like myself often have trouble carrying on conversation or...
  9. ixchelnaom reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  10. goforgold93 reblogged this from saffythegeek
  11. graveexcitement reblogged this from annethecatdetective
  12. mooncigar reblogged this from criminallyincompetent and added:
    Anyone know for sure?
  13. yirisanqiu reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  14. kulorautias reblogged this from criminallyincompetent and added:
    ^ This and ^^ this
  15. annethecatdetective reblogged this from catbountry and added:
    I could do this for my dad’s laugh— and recently I learned I could do it for the TF2 music— but mostly I got brain...
  16. isthatyochickk reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  17. magickhouse reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  18. medicalstudentdiaries reblogged this from gorgeousmuslimah
  19. gorgeousmuslimah reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  20. m-o-w-e reblogged this from jtotheizzoe

Recent comments

Blog comments powered by Disqus