Response requirements and the contrast effect in loudness judgments

Ss responded to a series of soft tones via category judgments, reaction time responses, or simple nonquantitative discrimination judgments. An evaluation was then made of the contrast effects obtained in the category judgments of these same soft tones when subsequently presented along with a series of loud tones. A control group was also used which did not receive the initial trials with the soft tones. The results indicated: (1) equivalent contrast effects for all four groups for the soft tones and (2) significantly greater judgments of the loud tones in the group that had used category judgments on the initial trials with soft tones. These results, alonR with a trend analysis, were used to argue for a joint semantic shift and equalization of category usage process underlying the contrast effect when Ss are required to denote the stimuli initially by means of category judgments.     

Effects of context on auditory stream segregation

The authors examined the effect of preceding context on auditory stream segregation. Low tones (A), high tones (B), and silences (-) were presented in an ABA- pattern. Participants indicated whether they perceived 1 or 2 streams of tones. The A tone frequency was fixed, and the B tone was the same as the A tone or had 1 of 3 higher frequencies. Perception of 2 streams in the current trial increased with greater frequency separation between the A and B tones (Delta f). Larger Delta f in previous trials modified this pattern, causing less streaming in the current trial. This occurred even when listeners were asked to bias their perception toward hearing 1 stream or 2 streams. The effect of previous Delta f was not due to response bias because simply perceiving 2 streams in the previous trial did not cause less streaming in the current trial. Finally, the effect of previous ?f was diminished, though still present, when the silent duration between trials was increased to 5.76 s. The time course of this context effect on streaming implicates the involvement of auditory sensory memory or neural adaptation.     

Shift in stimulus range and the exponent of the power function for loudness

The exponent of the power function for loudness was tracked over the course of 60 trials with one stimulus range and compared to the exponent over the course of 60 subsequent trials with a different stimulus range. Three stimulus sets were used: (1) weak, a short range of relatively soft tones (45-55 dBA); (2) strong, a short range of relatively loud tones (64-74 dBA); and (3) complete, a longer range of soft to loud tones (40-90 dBA). All pairs of stimulus sets were tested, together with three control conditions in which no shift in range occurred. Ten subjects were run in each of the nine groups. For preshift trials, the mean exponent was lowest for the strong stimulus series, highest for the weak series, and at an intermediate value for the complete series. These differences were all significant. Following a shift in stimulus range, the weak series still yielded the highest exponent, but the exponents were not reliably different for the complete and strong series. Postshift exponents also depended significantly on the preshift range experienced by the subjects. These effects were not confined to the period immediately following the shift in range, but persisted for up to 60 trials.     

Are consonant intervals music to their ears? Spontaneous acoustic preferences in a nonhuman primate

Humans find some sounds more pleasing than others; such preferences may underlie our enjoyment of music. To gain insight into the evolutionary origins of these preferences, we explored whether they are present in other animals. We designed a novel method to measure the spontaneous sound preferences of cotton-top tamarins, a species that has been extensively tested for other perceptual abilities. Animals were placed in a V-shaped maze, and their position within the maze controlled their auditory environment. One sound was played when they were in one branch of the maze, and a different sound for the opposite branch; no food was delivered during testing. We used the proportion of time spent in each branch as a measure of preference. The first two experiments were designed as tests of our method. In Experiment 1, we used loud and soft white noise as stimuli; all animals spent most of their time on the side with soft noise. In Experiment 2, tamarins spent more time on the side playing species-specific feeding chirps than on the side playing species-specific distress calls. Together, these two experiments suggest that the method is effective, providing a spontaneous measure of preference. In Experiment 3, however, subjects showed no preference for consonant over dissonant intervals. Finally, tamarins showed no preference in Experiment 4 for a screeching sound (comparable to fingernails on a blackboard) over amplitude-matched white noise. In contrast, humans showed clear preferences for the consonant intervals of Experiment 3 and the white noise of Experiment 4 using the same stimuli and a similar method. We conclude that tamarins' preferences differ qualitatively from those of humans. The preferences that support our capacity for music may, therefore, be unique among the primates, and could be music-specific adaptations.     

发音动作和声音在产生效应中的作用：基于fNIRS的研究

产生效应指朗读的记忆成绩好于默读的,然而目前还不清楚发音动作和声音在其中的作用。本研究采用fNIRS技术,考察大学生朗读、唇读、默读三种阅读方式时的记忆成绩和大脑激活模式。结果发现：（1）朗读和唇读的记忆成绩显著高于默读的;（2）朗读和唇读时在初级运动皮层、布洛卡区和威尔尼克区的激活程度均显著大于默读时的;（3）朗读时在威尔尼克区的激活程度显著大于唇读时的。这表明,发音动作相对声音在产生效应中的作用更大。     

Psychological Aspects of Tinnitus: A Comparison With Hearing Loss and Ear,Nose and Throat Disorders

Abstract

It is well established that tinnitus is sometimes associated with marked psychological distress, including anxiety and depression. As yet, however, it is unclear whether the problems are specific to tinnitus or may occur in other hearing disorders too. A total of 95 patients with tinnitus were compared with 73 people with hearing loss but no tinnitus, and with a further 80 people attending an out-patient clinic for a variety of other ear, nose and throat (ENT) problems. The principal measures were the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. The tinnitus patients were significantly more anxious, depressed, and neurotic than the hearing loss group, but were equivalent to the ENT group; and, like the hearing loss group, they were significantly less extraverted than the ENT controls. There were no differences between tinnitus patients with severe hearing loss, mild hearing loss, and no hearing loss. Results from Hallam's Short Tinnitus Questionnaire revealed that tinnitus patients without hearing loss reported significantly fewer difficulties with auditory perception than either of the other tinnitus groups, and significantly fewer irrational beliefs than the group with severe hearing loss. It is concluded that patients with tinnitus were more distressed than people with hearing loss, but that their distress was shared by patients with a variety of other ENT problems. People who reported the greatest problems with their tinnitus were generally those who also had severe hearing loss.     

Effects of stimulus ear presentation on the voice reaction time of adult stutterers and nonstutterers

The initial and optimum voice reaction times (VRT) to auditory stimuli presented separately to the left and right ears of ten adult stutterers and ten nonstutterers was investigated. Subjects initiated the neutral vowel sound /Λ/ in response to one hundred 4000 Hz tones of 2.5 sec in duration. The silent intervals between the tones varied randomly. The stimulus cues were divided into five equal response sets of 20 tones each with 10 tones in each set being presented to the right ear and 10 tones to the left ear alternating back and forth. No significant differences were reported between the VRTs for cues presented to the left or right ears for either group. However, the stutterers exhibited voice reaction times which were significantly longer and more variable than those of the nonstutterers. The between- group differences were observed for what appeared to be the “optimum” level of voice initiation for the experimental task. These results lend to the speculative hypothesis that the observed difficulty for adult stutterers to promptly and consistently initiate vocalization may in part be attributable to inherent rather than learned factors.     

Slippery context effect and critical bands.

This article explored the slippery context effect: When Ss judge the loudness of tones that differ in sound frequency as well as intensity, stimulus context (relative intensity levels at the 2 frequencies) can strongly influence the levels that are judged equally loud. It is shown that the size of the slippery context effect depends on the frequency difference between the tones: Small frequency differences (less than a critical bandwidth) produced essentially no slippery effect; much larger differences produced substantial effects. These results are consistent with a model postulating the existence of a central attentional or preattentive "filter-like" process whose weighting coefficients represent the size of the absolute as opposed to the relative (contextual) component of loudness perception and judgment.     

Reconsidering evidence for the suppression model of the octave illusion

The octave illusion is elicited by a sequence of tones presented to each ear that continuously alternate in frequency by one octave, but with high and low frequencies always in different ears. The percept for most listeners is a high pitch in one ear, alternating with a low pitch in the other ear. The influentialsuppression model of the illusion proposed by Deutsch and Roll (1976) carries three postulates: first, that listeners perceive only the pitch of the tones presented to their dominant ear; second, that this pitch is heard in whichever ear received the higher frequency tone; and third, that this apparent dissociation betweenwhat andwhere mechanisms arises from sequential interactions between the tones. In the present article, we reappraise evidence for the suppression model and demonstrate (1) the incompatibility of the theory with the existing literature on pitch perception, sound localization, and ear dominance and (2) methodological limitations in studies that have claimed to provide support for the suppression model. We conclude by proposing an alternative theory of the octave illusion that is based on established principles of fusion, rather than suppression, between ears.     

Simultaneous auditory discrimination.

Stimuli in many visual stimulus control studies typically are presented simultaneously; in contrast the stimuli in auditory discrimination studies are presented successively. Many everyday auditory stimuli that control responding occur simultaneously. This suggests that simultaneous auditory discriminations should be readily acquired. The purpose of the present experiment was to train rats in a simultaneous auditory discrimination. The apparatus consisted of a cage with two response levers mounted on one wall and a speaker mounted adjacent to each lever. A feeder was mounted on the opposite wall. In a go-right/go-left procedure, two stimuli were presented on each trial, a wide-band noise burst through one speaker and a 2-kHz complex signal through the other. The stimuli alternated randomly from side to side across trials, and the stimulus correlated with reinforcement for presses varied across subjects. The rats acquired the discrimination in 400 to 700 trials, and no response position preference developed during acquisition. The ease with which the simultaneous discrimination was acquired suggests that procedures, such as matching to sample, that require simultaneous presentation of stimuli can be used with auditory stimuli in animals having poor vision.     

Male Wistar rats show individual differences in an animal model of conformity

Conformity refers to the act of changing one’s behaviour to match that of others. Recent studies in humans have shown that individual differences exist in conformity and that these differences are related to differences in neuronal activity. To understand the neuronal mechanisms in more detail, animal tests to assess conformity are needed. Here, we used a test of conformity in rats that has previously been evaluated in female, but not male, rats and assessed the nature of individual differences in conformity. Male Wistar rats were given the opportunity to learn that two diets differed in palatability. They were subsequently exposed to a demonstrator that had consumed the less palatable food. Thereafter, they were exposed to the same diets again. Just like female rats, male rats decreased their preference for the more palatable food after interaction with demonstrator rats that had eaten the less palatable food. Individual differences existed for this shift, which were only weakly related to an interaction between their own initial preference and the amount consumed by the demonstrator rat. The data show that this conformity test in rats is a promising tool to study the neurobiology of conformity.     

On cross-modal similarity: auditory-visual interactions in speeded discrimination

A series of four experiments explored how cross-modal similarities between sensory attributes in vision and hearing reveal themselves in speeded, two-stimulus discrimination. When subjects responded differentially to stimuli on one modality, speed and accuracy of response were greater on trials accompanied by informationally irrelevant "matching" versus "mismatching" stimuli from the other modality. Cross-modal interactions appeared in (a) responses to dim/bright lights and to dark/light colors accompanied by low-pitched/high-pitched tones; (b) responses to low-pitched/high-pitched tones accompanied by dim/bright lights or by dark/light colors; (c) responses to dim/bright lights, but not to dark/light colors, accompanied by soft/loud sounds; and (d) responses to rounded/sharp forms accompanied by low-pitched/high-pitched tones. These results concur with findings on cross-modal perception, synesthesia, and synesthetic metaphor, which reveal similarities between pitch and brightness, pitch and lightness, loudness and brightness, and pitch and form. The cross-modal interactions in response speed and accuracy may take place at a sensory/perceptual level of processing or after sensory stimuli are encoded semantically.     

The effect of exogenous spatial attention on auditory information processing

This study investigated the effect of exogenous spatial attention on auditory information processing. In Experiments 1, 2 and 3, temporal order judgment tasks were performed to examine the effect. In Experiment 1 and 2, a cue tone was presented to either the left or right ear, followed by sequential presentation of two target tones. The subjects judged the order of presentation of the target tones. The results showed that subjects heard both tones simultaneously when the target tone, which was presented on the same side as the cue tone, was presented after the target tone on the opposite side. This indicates that spatial exogenous attention was aroused by the cue tone, and facilitated subsequent auditory information processing. Experiment 3 examined whether both cue position and frequency influence the resulting information processing. The same effect of spatial attention was observed, but the effect of attention to a certain frequency was only partially observed. In Experiment 4, a tone fusion judgment task was performed to examine whether the effect of spatial attention occurred in the initial stages of hearing. The result suggests that the effect occurred in the later stages of hearing.     

Dichotic Perception of Mandarin Tones by Chinese and American Listeners

The dichotic perception of Mandarin tones by native and nonnative listeners was examined in order to investigate the lateralization of lexical tone. Twenty American listeners with no tone language background and 20 Chinese listeners were asked to identify dichotically presented tone pairs by identifying which tone they heard in each ear. For the Chinese listeners, 57% of the total errors occurred via the left ear, indicating a significant right ear advantage. However, the American listeners revealed no significant ear preference, with 48% of the errors attributable to the left ear. These results indicated that Mandarin tones are predominantly processed in the left hemisphere by native Mandarin speakers, whereas they are bilaterally processed by American English speakers with no prior tone experience. The results also suggest that the left hemisphere superiority for native Mandarin tone processing is similar to native processing of other tone languages.     

The role of long-term familiarity and attentional maintenance in short-term memory for timbre

We study short-term recognition of timbre using familiar recorded tones from acoustic instruments and unfamiliar transformed tones that do not readily evoke sound-source categories. Participants indicated whether the timbre of a probe sound matched with one of three previously presented sounds (item recognition). In Exp. 1, musicians better recognised familiar acoustic compared to unfamiliar synthetic sounds, and this advantage was particularly large in the medial serial position. There was a strong correlation between correct rejection rate and the mean perceptual dissimilarity of the probe to the tones from the sequence. Exp. 2 compared musicians' and non-musicians' performance with concurrent articulatory suppression, visual interference, and with a silent control condition. Both suppression tasks disrupted performance by a similar margin, regardless of musical training of participants or type of sounds. Our results suggest that familiarity with sound source categories and attention play important roles in short-term memory for timbre, which rules out accounts solely based on sensory persistence.     

Feature mismatch effects in auditory negative priming: interference as dependent on salient aspects of prior episodes

A handful of studies have revealed that withholding a response to a sound causes impaired responding to that sound when subsequently presented (Buchner & Steffens, 2001; Mondor, Leboe, & Leboe, 2005). In the present study, we investigated whether a switch in the location of a repeated sound might represent an additional source of this auditory negative priming effect. In all three of our experiments, participants performed a series of trials in which they withheld a response to a dichotic pair of prime sounds presented to each ear. A dichotic pair of probe sounds was then presented to each ear, and the participants were required to categorize one of them. Across these experiments, the participants were slower to categorize only repeated sounds that were presented in opposite locations.     

Feature mismatch effects in auditory negative

A handful of studies have revealed that withholding a response to a sound causes impaired responding to that sound when subsequently presented (Buchner & Steffens, 2001; Mondor, Leboe, & Leboe, 2005). In the present study, we investigated whether a switch in the location of a repeated sound might represent an additional source of this auditory negative priming effect. In all three of our experiments, participants performed a series of trials in which they withheld a response to a dichotic pair of prime sounds presented to each ear. A dichotic pair ofprobe sounds was then presented to each ear, and the participants were required to categorize one of them. Across these experiments, the participants were slower to categorize only repeated sounds that were presented in opposite locations.     

Macaque monkeys discriminate pitch relationships

This study demonstrates that non-human primates can categorize the direction of the pitch change of tones in a sequence. Two Macaca fascicularis were trained in a positive-reinforcement behavioral paradigm in which they listened to sequences of a variable number of different acoustic items. The training of discriminating pitch direction was divided into three phases with increasing task complexity. In the first two phases, subjects learned to employ a same/different rule. In phase 1, they discriminated acoustic items of different sound quality. Subjects had to respond when there was a change from repeating noise bursts to repeating click trains or vice versa. In phase II, acoustic items differed along one physical dimension only. Subjects had to respond to a change of the frequency of a repeating series of pure tones. In phase III, sequences consisted of three series of repeating tones of different frequency. Subjects were required to respond when the frequency of the tones changed in a downward direction and to refrain from responding when the frequency remained constant or increased. After several ten thousand trials, subjects categorized pitch direction well above chance level. The discrimination was performed over a 4.5-octave range of frequencies and was largely independent of the temporal and ordinal position of the downward pitch direction within the sequence. These results demonstrate that monkeys can recognize pitch relationships and thus that monkeys have the concept of ordinal relations between acoustic items.     

Selective auditory grouping by zebra finches: testing the iambic–trochaic law

Humans have a strong tendency to spontaneously group visual or auditory stimuli together in larger patterns. One of these perceptual grouping biases is formulated as the iambic/trochaic law, where humans group successive tones alternating in pitch and intensity as trochees (high–low and loud–soft) and alternating in duration as iambs (short–long). The grouping of alternations in pitch and intensity into trochees is a human universal and is also present in one non-human animal species, rats. The perceptual grouping of sounds alternating in duration seems to be affected by native language in humans and has so far not been found among animals. In the current study, we explore to which extent these perceptual biases are present in a songbird, the zebra finch. Zebra finches were trained to discriminate between short strings of pure tones organized as iambs and as trochees. One group received tones that alternated in pitch, a second group heard tones alternating in duration, and for a third group, tones alternated in intensity. Those zebra finches that showed sustained correct discrimination were next tested with longer, ambiguous strings of alternating sounds. The zebra finches in the pitch condition categorized ambiguous strings of alternating tones as trochees, similar to humans. However, most of the zebra finches in the duration and intensity condition did not learn to discriminate between training stimuli organized as iambs and trochees. This study shows that the perceptual bias to group tones alternating in pitch as trochees is not specific to humans and rats, but may be more widespread among animals.     

Hearing in two cricetid rodents: wood rat (Neotoma floridana) and grasshopper mouse (Onychomys leucogaster)

The audiograms of two wood rats and three grasshopper mice were determined with a conditioned avoidance procedure. The wood rats were able to hear tones from 940 Hz to 56 kHz at a level of 60 dB (SPL), with their best sensitivity of -3 dB occurring at 8 kHz. The hearing of the grasshopper mice ranged from 1.85 kHz to 69 kHz at 60 dB (SPL), with their best sensitivity of 9 dB also occurring at 8 kHz. These results support the relation between interaural distance and high-frequency hearing and between high- and low-frequency hearing. The inability of the grasshopper mouse to hear low frequencies as well as other desert rodents such as kangaroo rats and gerbils demonstrates that not all rodents found in deserts have developed good low-frequency hearing. The degree to which general and specific selective pressures have played a role in the evolution of rodent hearing is discussed.