Parallel scanning of auditory and visual information

Two experiments involving memory retrieval of auditorilv and visually presented materials were performed. In Experiment I, subjects were presented with memory sets of 1, 2, or 4 stimuli and then with a test item to be classified as belonging or not belonging to the memory set. In Condition 1, each memory stimulus was a single, auditorily presented letter. In Condition 2, each memory stimulus was a visually presented letter. In Conditions 3 and 4, each memory stimulus was a pair of letters, one presented visually and the other auditorily. Mean reaction time (RT) for the classification task increased as a function of number of memory stimuli at equal rates for all four conditions. This was interpreted as evidence for a parallel scanning process in Conditions 3 and 4 where the auditory item and visual item of each memory stimulus pair can be scanned simultaneously. Experiment II compared memory retrieval for a simultaneous condition in which auditory and visual memory items were presented as pairs with a sequential condition in which mixed auditory-visual memory sets were presented one item at a time. RTs were shorter for the simultaneous condition. This was interpreted as evidence that parallel scanning may depend upon memory input parameters.     

Developmental differences in cognitive scanning and encoding of visual information

Report accuracy of horizontally arranged letter sequences was measured for second-grade children and adults using a tachistoscopic single report procedure. Results indicated age differences in both the amount of information encoded out of visual sensory store and in the magnitude of left-right visual field differences. However, large age differences in amount of encoded information were also present under conditions which served to reduce left-right visual-field asymmetries in report accuracy. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for using a left-to-right cognitive trace scanning explanation to account for age differences in encoding efficiency.     

Developmental changes in visual scanning of face and nonface patterns by infants

The eye movements of infants, aged 4–5, 7–8, and 10–11 weeks, were recorded while they viewed either a representation of a face or a nonface stimulus. Presentation of the visual stimulus was paired with the presentation of an auditory stimulus (either voice or tone) or silence. Attention to the visual stimulus was greater for the older two groups than for the youngest group. The effect of the addition of sound was to increase attention to the visual stimulus. In general, the face was looked at more than the nonface stimulus. The difference in visual attention between the face and the nonface stimulus did not appear to be based solely on the physical characteristics of the stimuli. A sharp increase in the amount of looking at the eyes of the face stimulus at 7–8 weeks of age seemed to be related to a developing appreciation of the meaning of the face as a pattern.     

Developmental aspects of hopelessness.

Developmental aspects of hopelessness were studied within a holistic-organismic framework. It is suggested that for an individual to become hopeless, cognitive-affective development and the development of the concept of time have to reach a certain level. The developmental readiness to experience hopelessness is considered necessary for an adolescent to present a clinical picture of depression similar to that of the adult.     

Developmental aspects of visual hemifield differences in perception of verbal material

The effect of acquisition of reading on visual field asymmetries for verbal material was investigated in school-age children. Contrary to the expectation that acquisition of differential scanning tendencies will operate on perceptual asymmetries, it was found that right visual field superiority which was independent of scanning direction appeared at the fifth grade. This, and the presence of slight left field superiority at the age when reading is initially acquired, suggests that hemispheric dominance and its attributes, parallel and sequential pattern recognition processes, is the major factor which determines the field preference for verbal material.     

Rehearsal of visual and auditory stimuli while shadowing.

Memory trigrams were presented by one of three methods: visual-concurrent (all three letters appeared simultaneously), visual-successive, and auditory-successive. During the 12-sec retention interval, subjects shadowed and reported their rehearsals and mnemonic associations via switches. On trials without associations, recall performance was interpreted as support for the hypothesis that the form of rehearsal is related to presentation modality. However, the frequency and temporal patterning of the rehearsals over the retention interval were virtually identical for all three presentation conditions, suggesting that the "control processes" were relatively independent of both method of presentation and modality of rehearsal. Most importantly, these data in combination with earlier data suggest that the efficiency of each rehearsal was also independent of those same factors, in each case quite comparable to that of a concurrent visual stimulus.     

Infants' coordination of auditory and visual depth information.

Using the preferential-looking procedure infants 5, 7, and 9 months of age were presented two videoimages side by side on separate monitors accompanied by a soundtrack that matched one of the images. Each infant was presented: (1) a stationary drum-beating toy paired with the same toy approaching and receding in depth, to assess infants' recognition both that changing sound amplitude is a property of an object that is moving in space and that constancy in amplitude is a property of a stationary object; (2) a drum-beating toy moving horizontally paired with one approaching and receding in depth, to assess infants' recognition that systematic increases and decreases in amplitude accompany object movement in a particular dimension, namely depth; and (3) two identical toys alternately approaching and receding in depth but out of phase (i.e., one approaching while the other is receding), to assess infants' recognition that increases and decreases in amplitude accompany a particular type of object movement in depth. Measures of mean duration of looking time indicated that the 5-month-olds looked reliably to the correct videoimage only for the stationary toy paired with the constant amplitude sound. The 7-month-olds recognized that changes in amplitude accompany object movement in depth but did not coordinate auditory with visual depth information as well as older infants. The 9-month-olds looked reliably to the correct videoimages in all conditions. Possible contributing factors to these developmental trends in performance are discussed.     

Paralinguistic aspects of auditory comprehension in aphasia.

Eight severe aphasics were given sentences with either emotional or neutral content, presented once directly by the examiner and once via a tape recorder. Sentences with emotional content produced a greater number of responses than their neutral counterparts. Sentences spoken by the examiner also produced a significantly greater number of responses than the same items originating from a tape recorder. These results confirm the view that elements not related to the linguistic aspects of a message (and therefore referred to as paralinguistic) play a significant role in auditory comprehension.     

Object-based auditory and visual attention

Theories of visual attention argue that attention operates on perceptual objects, and thus that interactions between object formation and selective attention determine how competing sources interfere with perception. In auditory perception, theories of attention are less mature and no comprehensive framework exists to explain how attention influences perceptual abilities. However, the same principles that govern visual perception can explain many seemingly disparate auditory phenomena. In particular, many recent studies of 'informational masking' can be explained by failures of either auditory object formation or auditory object selection. This similarity suggests that the same neural mechanisms control attention and influence perception across different sensory modalities.     

Developmental aspects of trauma and traumatic aspects of development

In this paper I try to show that inherent in healthy development are emotional experiences that are the stuff of trauma. Failure to reintegrate these experiences means that they can serve as a resonating board for difficulties in later life, adding to their traumatic impact. Focusing on global changes that occur at the end of the first year, I exemplify these developments with an infant observation and show how a six-year-old boy's failure to integrate them contributed to his experiencing a normal life event as a trauma. I then offer clinical material from the analysis of a man to demonstrate how later life events resonated with early experience associated with this period. All are linked to a complex pattern of object relations I have come across clinically, whereby feelings of grief associated with an idealized object are split off from feelings of grievance against an object experienced as persecutory because of its perceived superior status.     

Stimulus intensity effects on auditory and visual reaction processes.

Literature on the effect of stimulus intensity on reaction processes was reviewed. It was shown that there is no agreement as to whether intensity effects are limited to encoding or whether they are extended to later processing stages. The situation can be characterized as an asymmetry between modalities: vision is consistent with the first alternative and audition with the second.Chronometric analysis was used to bear on the question. It was shown that the effects of visual intensity and foreperiod (FP) are additive in a simple RT situation both for constant and mixed blocks FP. Auditory intensity and FP interact in both simple and two-choice situations. In a control experiment visual intensity and S-R compatibility were found to be additive. The asymmetry was accounted for by auditory alerting, previously discussed by several authors.The framework of stimulus intensity research utilizing RT measures was briefly evaluated.     

Short-term memory for the timing of auditory and visual signals.

Short-term memory for the timing of irregular sequences of signals has been said to be more accurate when the signals are auditory than when they are visual. No support for this contention was obtained when the signals were beeps versus flashes (Experiments 1 and 3) nor when they were sets of spoken versus typewritten digits (Experiments 4 and 5). On the other hand, support was obtained both for beeps versus flashes (Experiments 2 and 5) and for repetitions of a single spoken digit versus repetitions of a single typewritten digit (Experiment 6) when the subjects silently mouthed a nominally irrelevant item during sequence presentation. Also, the timing of sequences of auditory signals, whether verbal (Experiment 7) or nonverbal (Experiments 8 and 9), was more accurately remembered when the signals within each sequence were identical. The findings are considered from a functional perspective.     

The fidelity of visual and auditory memory

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - Recent studies show that recognition memory for pictures is consistently better than recognition memory for sounds. The purpose of this experiment was to compare...