Demonstration 11.6 Backwards Speech At least since the 1960s, people have been fascinated with music and speech played backwards (also called--somewhat confusingly- -backmasking). The Beatles' album Revolver contains examples, and some people reported that a Beatles' song contained evidence (when played backwards) that "Paul (McCartney) is dead." As John Vokey and Don Read noted (in their 1985 article in American Psychologist, Subliminal messages: Between the Devil and the Media), people's expectations play a primary role in what they ultimately hear in the backwards messages.

Sound processing programs for your computer (such as Audacity) now make it simple to create your own reverse speech or music. Below are a couple of examples. You will be able to find many examples by searching the web for backmasking, such as this list.

• First, listen to this example and try to determine what the normal (forward) speech said. (It's actually a paragraph from your textbook.) Second, determine what "hidden messages" might be found in the backward speech example. Did you hear anything? With a bit of effort, I was able to extract something that was vaguely interpretable. Here's that segment from the original example. Do you hear any message in that segment? Now, let me give you a hint. So that it doesn't pop out immediately as you read, I'll give you the hint backwards: [pohs eht ni zihw relaeh reniew a ereht sI] I'm fairly certain that's not a phrase you use often! Now, listen to the segment (or the complete example if you wish) and notice how easily you hear the phrase I've suggested.

• Second, listen to this example of a common song. Can you tell what it is when played forward? Do you hear any "hidden messages" in the song?