First question - sorry Cognitive Science is a closed book to me so I hope someone can give me an insight into this phenomenon.
We have a child's toy that is activated by clapping of the hands. To me, I always perceive the activation of the toy to take place a split second before I perceive the sound of the hand clap - even, perhaps especially, when it is me that is doing the hand clapping.
I recognise that this must be a perception issue because the sound has to travel, perhaps 12 times the distance to the toy compared to my ears, then be processed by the electronics before the sound of the toy reaches back to me. How is it possible that I hear the sound of the toy before the sound of the handclap?