Participants listened to recordings of forward speech where the speaker was either distressed or not distressed. More participants heard reverse speech from the recording where the speaker was distressed, and they identified more incidences of reverse speech overall from that recording. The reverse speech identified by participants seemed to reflect the speaker's unarticulated thoughts about the message in the recording. These results provide tentative support for the existence of reverse speech occurring unconsciously and more when a speaker is distressed.

1. The perception of reverse speech in an untrained population
Aimee Shaw, Maja Jankowska & Joanne Ingram
Department of Psychology, University of Bedfordshire
Abstract
Words and phrases identified in recordings of speech played backwards have been termed
“reverse speech”. It has been proposed that reverse speech is produced unconsciously in
parallel with forwards speech; and can be used by trained analysts to identify thoughts and
beliefs of a speaker which contrast with the message within forwards speech. It has also been
suggested that reverse speech occurs more often when a speaker is distressed. We report an
empirical investigation of these suggestions. Two sets of forward speech were recorded;
during one of the recordings distress was promoted by ensuring the speaker expressed beliefs
which were not their own. Participants, untrained in analysis of reverse speech, listened to
the recordings and identified the time and nature of any reverse speech which they heard.
Participants were able to perceive reverse speech; additionally more participants heard
reverse speech, and more incidences of reverse speech were heard, when the speaker had
been distressed. Further analysis suggested that the reverse speech identified reflected the
speakers’ unarticulated thoughts about the message in the recording. These results tentatively
support the phenomenon of reverse speech. As reversals were heard by an untrained
population, the results suggest that specialist training in interpreting reverse speech is
redundant.