Effects of Action Video Game Experience on Change Detection

Reflected sounds are often treated as an acoustic problem because they produce false localization cues and decrease speech intelligibility. However, their properties are shaped by the acoustic properties of the environment and therefore are a potential source of information about that environment. The objective of this study was to determine whether information carried by reflected sounds can be used by listeners to enhance their awareness of their auditory environment. Twelve listeners participated in two auditory training tasks in which they learned to identify three environments based on a limited subset of sounds and then were tested to determine whether they could transfer that learning to new, unfamiliar sounds. Results showed that significant learning occurred despite the task difficulty. An analysis of stimulus attributes suggests that it is easiest to learn to identify reflected sound when it occurs in sounds with longer decay times and broadly distributed dominant spectral components.     

Changes in auditory frequency guide visual-spatial attention

How do the characteristics of sounds influence the allocation of visual–spatial attention? Natural sounds typically change in frequency. Here we demonstrate that the direction of frequency change guides visual–spatial attention more strongly than the average or ending frequency, and provide evidence suggesting that this cross-modal effect may be mediated by perceptual experience. We used a Go/No-Go color-matching task to avoid response compatibility confounds. Participants performed the task either with their heads upright or tilted by 90°, misaligning the head-centered and environmental axes. The first of two colored circles was presented at fixation and the second was presented in one of four surrounding positions in a cardinal or diagonal direction. Either an ascending or descending auditory-frequency sweep was presented coincident with the first circle. Participants were instructed to respond to the color match between the two circles and to ignore the uninformative sounds. Ascending frequency sweeps facilitated performance (response time and/or sensitivity) when the second circle was presented at the cardinal top position and descending sweeps facilitated performance when the second circle was presented at the cardinal bottom position; there were no effects of the average or ending frequency. The sweeps had no effects when circles were presented at diagonal locations, and head tilt entirely eliminated the effect. Thus, visual–spatial cueing by pitch change is narrowly tuned to vertical directions and dominates any effect of average or ending frequency. Because this cross-modal cueing is dependent on the alignment of head-centered and environmental axes, it may develop through associative learning during waking upright experience.     

Know thy sound: Perceiving self and others in musical contexts

This review article provides a summary of the findings from empirical studies that investigated recognition of an action's agent by using music and/or other auditory information. Embodied cognition accounts ground higher cognitive functions in lower level sensorimotor functioning. Action simulation, the recruitment of an observer's motor system and its neural substrates when observing actions, has been proposed to be particularly potent for actions that are self-produced. This review examines evidence for such claims from the music domain. It covers studies in which trained or untrained individuals generated and/or perceived (musical) sounds, and were subsequently asked to identify who was the author of the sounds (e.g., the self or another individual) in immediate (online) or delayed (offline) research designs. The review is structured according to the complexity of auditory–motor information available and includes sections on: 1) simple auditory information (e.g., clapping, piano, drum sounds), 2) complex instrumental sound sequences (e.g., piano/organ performances), and 3) musical information embedded within audiovisual performance contexts, when action sequences are both viewed as movements and/or listened to in synchrony with sounds (e.g., conductors' gestures, dance). This work has proven to be informative in unraveling the links between perceptual–motor processes, supporting embodied accounts of human cognition that address action observation. The reported findings are examined in relation to cues that contribute to agency judgments, and their implications for research concerning action understanding and applied musical practice.     

Across-channel masking of changes in modulation depth for amplitude- and frequency-modulated signals

This study examines a form of masking that can take place when the signal and masker are widely separated in frequency and cannot be explained in terms of the traditional concept of the auditory filter or critical band. We refer to this as across-channel masking. The task of the subject was to detect an increment in modulation depth of a 1000-Hz sinusoidal carrier. The carrier could either be sinusoidally amplitude modulated or sinusoidally frequency modulated at a 10-Hz rate. Modulation increment thresholds of this “target” signal were measured for the target alone, and in the presence of two interfering sounds with carrier frequencies of 230 and 3300 Hz. When the interfering sounds were unmodulated, they had no effect on modulation increment thresholds. When the interfering sounds were either amplitude or frequency modulated, thresholds increased. Amplitude modulation (AM) increment thresholds were affected by both amplitude-modulated and frequency-modulated interference. Similarly, frequency modulation (FM) increment thresholds were affected by both amplitude-modulated and frequency-modulated interference. For both types of signal, the interference was tuned for modulation rate; across-channel masking was greatest when the interfering sounds were modulated at rates close to 10 Hz, and declined for higher or lower rates. However, the tuning was rather broad. When the target and interfering sounds were modulated at the same rate, there was no effect of the relative phase of the modulators. Two possible explanations for the results are discussed. One is based on the idea that carriers that are modulated in a similar way tend to be perceptually “grouped”. The other is based on the idea that there are “channels” in the auditory system tuned for AM and FM rate. Neither explanation appears completely satisfactory.     

Identification and discrimination of sweep formants

Earlier identification experiments with sweep tones are repeated with rising and falling single formant (band) sweeps, with durations ranging from 15 to 40 msec and sweep rates from 0 to 40 oct/sec. Steady-state portions of 100-msec duration are then added to the sweeps. The general conclusions are that the tendency to perceive level and slightly rising tones as falling, which was such a prominent feature of the earlier results, disappears as the stimuli become more complex, and that sweep discrimination seems to be a function of the difference between the initial and the final frequency of a sweep.     

Characteristic sounds facilitate visual search

In a natural environment, objects that we look for often make characteristic sounds. A hiding cat may meow, or the keys in the cluttered drawer may jingle when moved. Using a visual search paradigm, we demonstrated that characteristic sounds facilitated visual localization of objects, even when the sounds carried no location information. For example, finding a cat was faster when participants heard a meow sound. In contrast, sounds had no effect when participants searched for names rather than pictures of objects. For example, hearing “meow” did not facilitate localization of the word cat. These results suggest that characteristic sounds cross-modally enhance visual (rather than conceptual) processing of the corresponding objects. Our behavioral demonstration of object-based cross-modal enhancement complements the extensive literature on space-based cross-modal interactions. When looking for your keys next time, you might want to play jingling sounds.     

The organization of words and environmental sounds in the second year: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence

The majority of research examining early auditory‐semantic processing and organization is based on studies of meaningful relations between words and referents. However, a thorough investigation into the fundamental relation between acoustic signals and meaning requires an understanding of how meaning is associated with both lexical and non‐lexical sounds. Indeed, it is unknown how meaningful auditory information that is not lexical (e.g., environmental sounds) is processed and organized in the young brain. To capture the structure of semantic organization for words and environmental sounds, we record event‐related potentials as 20‐month‐olds view images of common nouns (e.g., dog) while hearing words or environmental sounds that match the picture (e.g., “dog” or barking), that are within‐category violations (e.g., “cat” or meowing), or that are between‐category violations (e.g., “pen” or scribbling). Results show both words and environmental sounds exhibit larger negative amplitudes to between‐category violations relative to matches. Unlike words, which show a greater negative response early and consistently to within‐category violations, such an effect for environmental sounds occurs late in semantic processing. Thus, as in adults, the young brain represents semantic relations between words and between environmental sounds, though it more readily differentiates semantically similar words compared to environmental sounds.     

Fast Fourier-based DSP algorithm for auditory motion experiments

A digital signal-processing (DSP) technique for rapid generation of complex auditory motion stimuli based on dynamic linear changes in interaural delay is described. In this technique, a pair of comple-mentary discrete Fourier transforms (DFTs) for which the component spacing in one series is different than that of the other is used. The appeal of this technique is its wide applicability, since it can generate real-time motion stimuli of any velocity and starting interaural delay for complex broadband or filtered noise waveforms and nonstationary sounds such as speech, music, and other natural sounds.     

Infant vocal development during the first 6 months: speech quality and melodic complexity

The early development of infant non‐distress vocalizations was investigated in this study. Thirteen infants, from 4 to 24 weeks of age, and their mothers were observed weekly in a face‐to‐face interaction situation. The speech quality (syllabic versus vocalic) and melodic complexity (simple versus complex) of infant vocalizations were coded independently. Based on speech quality and melodic complexity, four types of infant non‐distress vocalizations were categorized: simple and complex syllabic (speech‐like) vocalizations as well as simple and complex vocalic (non‐speech‐like) vocalizations. Results showed that complex syllabic sounds were of longer duration and complex vocalic sounds were less frequent than the other types of vocalizations. Curvilinear developmental trends were found in the rate of simple vocalic sounds and in the mean duration of complex syllabic sounds. Furthermore, before 4 months of age, vocalic sounds were more likely to be associated with simple melodic contours, after which syllabic sounds were more likely to be associated with complex melodic contours. A dynamic systems perspective on the early development of infant vocalization is discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluating frequency proximity in stream segregation

Consecutive sounds of similar structure that are close in frequency or pitch are more likely to be perceived as part of the same sequence than those at greater frequency separations. The principle of grouping into such perceptual sequences, or auditory streams, is known as frequency proximity. However, the metric by which one frequency difference is judged to be greater or less than another in complex auditory scenes is not yet known. Two experiments explored the metric for frequency proximity. We presented repeating three-tone stimulus patterns at a rate where they are normally heard as two streams, one containing the highest tone and one containing the lowest. The middle tone joined one stream or the other depending on its frequency. Subjects reported the perceived allocation of the variable tone by responding on a 5-point scale. The frequency at which either of these two percepts was equally probable was found to be lower than a logarithmic midpoint or the midpoints on a cochlear map or the Mel scale; that is, it was unlike metrics arrived at by direct comparisons of tones. Further, the midpoint for high and low tones presented synchronously was lower than that for the same tones presented sequentially, demonstrating that in addition to a proximity factor, some additional factor or factors must operate differently when the lower and upper fixed tones are, or are not, presented simultaneously.     

Pitch strength and Stevens’s power law

Recent studies have suggested that the saliency or the strength of pitch of complex sounds can be accounted for on the basis of the temporal properties in the stimulus waveform as measured by the height of the first peak in the waveform autocorrelation function. We used a scaling procedure to measure the pitch strength from 15 listeners for four different pitches of complex sounds in which the height of the first peak in the autocorrelation function systematically varied. Pitch strength judgments were evaluated in terms of a modification of Stevens’s power law in which temporal information was used from both the waveform fine structure and the envelope. Best fits of this modified power law to the judged pitch strengths indicate that the exponent in Stevens’s power law is greater than 1. The results suggest that pitch strength is primarily determined by the waveform fine structure, but the stimulus envelope can also contribute to the pitch strength.     

The pigeon's discrimination of visual entropy: a logarithmic function

We taught 8 pigeons to discriminate 16-icon arrays that differed in their visual variability or "entropy" to see whether the relationship between entropy and discriminative behavior is linear (in which equivalent differences in entropy should produce equivalent changes in behavior) or logarithmic (in which higher entropy values should be less discriminable from one another than lower entropy values). Pigeons received a go/no-go task in which the lower entropy arrays were reinforced for one group and the higher entropy arrays were reinforced for a second group. The superior discrimination of the second group was predicted by a theoretical analysis in which excitatory and inhibitory stimulus generalization gradients fall along a logarithmic, but not a linear scale. Reanalysis of previously published data also yielded results consistent with a logarithmic relationship between entropy and discriminative behavior.     

Representation of serial order in speech: evidence from the repeated phoneme effect in speech errors

Previous research has shown that slips of the tongue involving the exchange of phonemes (e.g., left hemisphere----left hemisphere) are often characterized by a repeated phoneme next to the exchanging ones (the vowel /epsilon/ in the above example is next to both of the exchanging sounds, /l/ and /h/). Two experiments, which elicited slips of the tongue under controlled conditions, revealed that repeated sounds in a speech plan are contributory causes of phoneme exchanges, anticipations, and perseverations. In addition, it was found that repeated sounds induce the misordering of sounds that are not adjacent to the repeated ones, as well as those that are adjacent to the repeated ones. An analysis of a collection of natural slips also supported the conclusion that repeated sounds cause nonadjacent sounds to slip. The results are seen as inconsistent with serial order theories that propose a linear structure of sounds held together by contextual influences between adjacent phonemes.     

Do Irrelevant Sounds Impair the Maintenance of All Characteristics of Speech in Memory?

Several studies have shown that maintaining in memory some attributes of speech, such as the content or pitch of an interlocutor??s message, is markedly reduced in the presence of background sounds made of spectrotemporal variations. However, experimental paradigms showing this interference have only focused on one attribute of speech at a time, and thus differ from real-life situations in which several attributes have to be memorized and maintained simultaneously. It is possible that the interference is even greater in such a case and can occur for a broader range of background sounds. We developed a paradigm in which participants had to maintain the content, pitch and speaker size of auditorily presented speech information and used various auditory distractors to generate interference. We found that only distractors with spectrotemporal variations impaired the detection, which shows that similar interference mechanisms occur whether there are one or more speech attributes to maintain in memory. A high percentage of false alarms was observed with these distractors, suggesting that spectrotemporal variations not only weaken but also modify the information maintained in memory. Lastly, we found that participants were unaware of the interference. These results are similar to those observed in the visual modality.     

Pitch strength and Stevens's power law

Recent studies have suggested that the saliency or the strength of pitch of complex sounds can be accounted for on the basis of the temporal properties in the stimulus waveform as measured by the height of the first peak in the waveform autocorrelation function. We used a scaling procedure to measure the pitch strength from 15 listeners for four different pitches of complex sounds in which the height of the first peak in the autocorrelation function systematically varied. Pitch strength judgments were evaluated in terms of a modification of Stevens's power law in which temporal information was used from both the waveform fine structure and the envelope. Best fits of this modified power law to the judged pitch strengths indicate that the exponent in Stevens's power law is greater than 1. The results suggest that pitch strength is primarily determined by the waveform fine structure, but the stimulus envelope can also contribute to the pitch strength.     

Tuned to the signal: the privileged status of speech for young infants

Do young infants treat speech as a special signal, compared with structurally similar non‐speech sounds? We presented 2‐ to 7‐month‐old infants with nonsense speech sounds and complex non‐speech analogues. The non‐speech analogues retain many of the spectral and temporal properties of the speech signal, including the pitch contour information which is known to be salient to young listeners, and thus provide a stringent test for a potential listening bias for speech. Our results show that infants as young as 2 months of age listened longer to speech sounds. This listening selectivity indicates that early‐functioning biases direct infants’ attention to speech, granting speech a special status in relation to other sounds.     

On the role of eye movements and saccade preparation in generating auditory inhibition of return.

In three experiments, listeners were required to either localize or identify the second of two successive sounds. The first sound (the cue) and the second sound (the target) could originate from either the same or different locations, and the interval between the onsets of the two sounds (Stimulus Onset Asynchrony, SOA) was varied. Sounds were presented out of visual range at 135 azimuth left or right. In Experiment 1, localization responses were made more quickly at 100 ms SOA when the target sounded from the same location as the cue (i.e., a facilitative effect), and at 700 ms SOA when the target and cue sounded from different locations (i.e., an inhibitory effect). In Experiments 2 and 3, listeners were required to monitor visual information presented directly in front of them at the same time as the auditory cue and target were presented behind them. These two experiments differed in that in order to perform the visual task accurately in Experiment 3, eye movements to visual stimuli were required. In both experiments, a transition from facilitation at a brief SOA to inhibition at a longer SOA was observed for the auditory task. Taken together these results suggest that location-based auditory IOR is not dependent on either eye movements or saccade programming to sound locations.     

The informational constraints of behavioral distraction by unexpected sounds: The role of event information

Sounds deviating from an otherwise repeated stream of task-irrelevant auditory stimuli (deviant sounds among standard sounds) are known to capture attention and impact negatively on ongoing behavioral performance (behavioral oddball distraction). Traditional views consider such distraction as the ineluctable consequence of the deviant sounds' low probability of occurrence relative to that of the standard. Contrary to this contention, recent evidence demonstrates that distraction by deviant sounds is not obligatory and occurs only when sounds (standards and deviants), though to be ignored, act as useful warning cues by providing information as to whether and when a target stimulus is to be presented (Parmentier, Elsley, & Ljungberg, 2010). The present study aimed to extend this finding by disentangling the roles of event information (target's probability of occurrence) and temporal information (target's time of occurrence). Comparing performance in a cross-modal oddball task where standard and deviant sounds provided temporal information, event information, both, or none, we found that distraction by deviant sounds emerged when sounds conveyed event information. These results suggest that unexpected changes in a stream of sounds yield behavioral distraction to the extent that standards and deviants carry relevant goal-directed information, specifically, the likelihood of occurrence of an upcoming target. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Relation of sound intensity and accuracy of localization

Tests were carried out on 17 subjects to determine the accuracy of monaural sound localization when the head is not free to turn toward the sound source. Maximum accuracy of localization for a constant-volume sound source coincided with the position for maximum perceived intensity of the sound in the front quadrant. There was a tendency for sounds to be perceived more often as coming from a position directly toward the ear. That is, for sounds in the front quadrant, errors of localization tended to be predominantly clockwise (i.e., biased toward a line directly facing the ear). Errors for sounds occurring in the rear quadrant tended to be anticlockwise. The pinna's differential effect on sound intensity between front and rear quadrants would assist in identifying the direction of movement of objects, for example an insect, passing the ear.