When Angela Merkel speaks, the brain only needs 150 milliseconds to recognize her voice – while the listener is not yet aware that he is hearing words from the former Chancellor. This was the result of an experiment at the University of Marburg.
The scientists played voice recordings of Merkel and two unknown speakers, whose age roughly corresponded to that of the politician, to 21 test persons. The subjects’ brain waves were recorded with an electroencephalograph. In this way, reactions in the brain can be measured before the test subjects become aware of them.
The EEG signals when listening to Merkel’s words could be clearly distinguished from those that occurred when playing recordings of the unknown speakers. The researchers assume that this is not a Merkel-specific effect, but that the voices of very prominent speakers generally evoke an unconscious signal in the brain.
