Reverse speech
Reverse speech is a
Claims
Oates' claim is that, on average, once in every 15–20 seconds of casual
An alternative explanation for this phenomenon is pareidolia, the tendency of the human brain to perceive meaningful patterns in random noise. Pareidolia is even more likely to occur when a person consciously tries to detect a pattern, as is the case for someone listening for intelligible phrases in backwards speech. The power of suggestion is then used to nudge the listener to hear what the presenter wants him to hear. David John Oates, for example, almost always tells the listener in advance what he should expect to hear, thereby planting a suggestion that would make the listener more likely to actually "hear" that phrase. A study has shown that when listening to the same clips without being told in advance what to expect, the results have a higher variation.[2]
Rejection by the scientific community
Most academics in the field of linguistics have not paid attention to Oates' work,[7] and it has been called a pseudoscience.[1][2] For the most part, universities and research institutes have refused to test Oates' theories because of a lack of theoretical basis to make his predictions even worth testing, and the fact that many of his claims are untestable,[2][3][8] but one of the few scientific experiments to evaluate Oates' claims did not support his findings.[7] Others have criticized "reverse speech" as lacking a rigorous methodology and not being informed by an understanding of issues in linguistics,[2] and characterized Oates as "more interested in making a profit than educating others," pointing out the large amount of merchandise and services his website sells.[1][8] Reverse speech has been compared to the controversial field (labelled a pseudoscience by some) of neuro-linguistic programming.[8] Because of the "dogmatic" tone of Oates' material, reverse speech has been compared to "fringe literature."[2]
Oates' own claims about the applications of reverse speech have also been challenged. One report has questioned whether reverse speech was ever really used in police work, as Oates claimed.
References
- ^ a b c d Byrne, Tom; Matthew Normand (2000). "The Demon-Haunted Sentence: A Skeptical Analysis of Reverse Speech". Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Newbrook, Mark, and Jane Curtain (1997). "Oates' Theory of Reverse Speech." at the Wayback Machine (archived 7 February 1998) Australian Skeptics 17(3). Retrieved on 22 March 2009. Archived from the original on 7 February 1998. PDF
- ^ a b Shirley, John. "Reverse Speech". The Skeptical Believer. Archived from the original on 29 January 2009. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
- ^ May 23rd 1997 Coast to Coast AM broadcast with Sean David Morton and "Victor".
- ^ Oates, David. "Reverse Speech – Voices From The Unconscious". reversespeech.com. Archived from the original on 24 February 2009. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
- ^ Reverse Speech Technologies · Examples
- ^ a b Duffy, Michael. "Play that back". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Retrieved 6 February 2009.
- ^ Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 6 February 2009.