Auditory and phonetic processes in place perception for stops

Use of the selective adaptation procedure with speech stimuli has led to a number of theoretical positions with regard to the level or levels of processing affected by adaptation. Recent experiments (i.e., Sawusch & Jusczyk, 1981) have, however, yielded strong evidence that only auditory coding processes are affected by selective adaptation. In the present experiment, a test series that varied along the phonetic dimension of place of articulation for stops ([da]-[ga]) was used in conjunction with a [ska] syllable that shared the phonetic value of velar with the [ga] end of the test series but had a spectral structure that closely matched a stimulus from the [da] end of the series. As an adaptor, the [ska] and Ida] stimuli produced identical effects, whereas in a paired-comparison procedure, the [ska] produced effects consistent with its phonetic label. These results offer further support for the contention that selective adaptation affects only the auditory coding of speech, whereas the paired-comparison procedure affects only the phonetic coding of speech. On the basis of these results and previous place-adaptation results, a process model of speech perception is described.     

Individual differences in depression,induced mood,and perception of emotionally toned words

The associative network theory of emotion and memory, outlined by Bower (1981), predicts that depressed mood leads to biases which favour the perception of mood-congruent information. In this study, a lexical decision task was used to assess the effects of degree of depression and induced elation and depression on lexical decision times for positive and negative words. Subsequently, subjects were given a recall test for the words presented during the lexical decision task. The results partially offered support for perceptual bias. The data showed that in non-depressed and elation-induced subjects, decision times were differentially affected by hedonic tone. Words of positive nature were responded to significantly faster than were negative words. In mildly depressed and depression-induced, decision times were similar for both types of words (positive and negative). These findings are discussed in relation to the associative network model and a growing amount of empirical research on human emotion and cognition.     

A comparison of Holland's model using constructs measured by two different methods

The relationship was studied between the set of constructs specified by Holland's 1973 theory (viz, Realistic, Intellectual, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional) measured by an Adjective List (AL) derived from Holland's theory and the same set of constructs as measured by the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI). The correspondence of the two measures of Holland's model compared the distances between the constructs as measured by the AL and the constructs measured by the VPI in factor space using an adaptation of a model testing procedure reported by Wakefield and Doughtie 1973. The subjects were 174 undergraduates at a state university. The correspondence between the two separate measures of Holland's model was significant (p < .01). These results provide further support of the construct validity of Holland's theory and offer evidence that the relationships hypothesized by the theory are not tied to any one particular method of measurement.     

A Matlab function to estimate choice model parameters from paired-comparison data.

Tversky (1972) has proposed a family of models for paired-comparison data that generalize the Bradley-Terry-Luce (BTL) model and can, therefore, apply to a diversity of situations in which the BTL model is doomed to fail. In this article, we present a Matlab function that makes it easy to specify any of these general models (EBA, Pretree, or BTL) and to estimate their parameters. The program eliminates the time-consuming task of constructing the likelihood function by hand for every single model. The usage of the program is illustrated by several examples. Features of the algorithm are outlined. The purpose of this article is to facilitate the use of probabilistic choice models in the analysis of data resulting from paired comparisons.     

Probability matching in visual selective attention

Jonides (1980, p. 111) suggested a model to account for shifts of spatial attention in visual search tasks with less than 100% cue validity. This two-stage probability matching model was subsequently tested by Jonides (1983). Reaction time distribution characteristics indeed provided some support for the model. In the present paper the relevant data presented in Jonides (1980, 1981, 1983) are further analysed. The results of this analysis strongly support the probability matching hypothesis. Probability matching is apparently a very important strategic characteristic of visual spatial attention that deserves much more study.     

A Matlab function to estimate choice model parameters from paired-comparison data

Tversky (1972) has proposed a family of models for paired-comparison data that generalize the Bradley—Terry—Luce (BTL) model and can, therefore, apply to a diversity of situations in which the BTL model is doomed to fail. In this article, we present a Matlab function that makes it easy to specify any of these general models (EBA, Pretree, or BTL) and to estimate their parameters. The program eliminates the time-consuming task of constructing the likelihood function by hand for every single model. The usage of the program is illustratedby several examples. Features of the algorithm are outlined. The purpose of this article is to facilitate the use of probabilistic choice models in the analysis of data resulting from paired comparisons.     

Modifying the gestalt factor of proximity: theories compared

A theoretical controversy between adaptation-level (AL) theory and response-frequency-equalization (RFE) theory was examined. The stimulus presented for judgment was a matrix of dots which varied in appearance as the relative horizontal and vertical separation between the dots was altered. The matrix appeared to be columns of dots (larger horizontal separation), rows of dots (larger vertical separation), or neither row-like nor column-like (when the two separations were equal). A stimulus with an extreme row organization was presented on alternate trials and resulted in more vertical judgments. Both AL theory and RFE theory are shown to be inadequate on two counts. They both predict that the response latencies to the vertical stimuli should be affected, whereas these were unaffected. They both predict that in terms of the categorical decision, 'horizontal' or 'vertical', the responses to both horizontal and vertical stimuli should be affected. It is shown that the context effect is almost entirely on the horizontal stimuli. These results are consistent with a spatial-adaptation model.     

Aristotelian Logic Axioms in Propositional Logic: The Pouch Method

A new theoretical approach to Aristotelian Logic (AL) based on three axioms has been recently introduced. This formalization of the theory allowed for the unification of its uncommunicated traditional branches, thus restoring the theoretical unity of AL. In this brief paper, the applicability of the three AL axioms to Propositional Logic (PL) is explored. First, it is shown how the AL axioms can be applied to some simple PL arguments in a straightforward manner. Second, the development of a proof method for PL inspired by the AL axioms is presented. This method mimics the underlying mechanics of the proof method from AL, and offers a complementary alternative to proof methods such as truth trees.     

Are selective adaptation and contrast effects really distinct?

Although there is evidence that selective adaptation and contrast effects in speech perception are produced by the same mechanisms, Sawusch and Jusczyk (1981) reported a dissociation between the effects and concluded that adaptation and contrast occur at separate processing levels. They found that an ambiguous test stimulus was more likely to be labeled b following adaptation with [pha] and more likely to be labeled p following adaptation with [ba] or [spa] (the latter consisting of [ba] preceded by [s] noise). In the contrast session, where a single context stimulus occurred with a single test item, the [ba] and [pha] contexts had contrastive effects similar to those of the [ba] and [pha] adaptors, but the [spa] context produced an increase in b responses to the test stimulus, an effect opposite to that of the [spa] adaptor. One interpretation of this difference is that the rapid presentation of the [spa] adaptor gave rise to "streaming," whereby the [s] was perceptually segregated from the [ba]. In our experiment, we essentially replicated the results of Sawusch and Jusczyk (1981), using procedures similar to theirs. Next, we increased the interadaptor interval to remove the likelihood of stream segregation and found that the adaptation and contrast effects converged.     

Real Objects of Speech Perception: A Commentary on Diehl and Kluender

I agree with Diehl and Kluender (1989) that perceptual constraints guide the development of sound inventories and of phonological processes in languages. I disagree that these constraints are primary in comparison with other influences on sound inventories, such as articulatory ones. More important, I disagree that any of the evidence that Diehl and Kluender cite, indicates that objects of perception are auditory or acoustic rather than phonetic gestural. None of the evidence is persuasive; all of it is consistent with a view that perceptual objects are gestural. Viewed in a larger context-of a universal theory of perception-a theory that perceptual objects are gestural, whereas acoustic structure serves as information for gestures, is strongly promoted.     

Continuous selection

Summary A model of target selection in continuous search tasks is outlined. The model was designed to account for two basic observations that are difficult to cover within the framework of the traditional target-control-type models of search, namely, pure detection (detection without identification) and pseudotarget detection (detection of new items not to be searched for). The model combines two basic assumptions: first, that targets are detected by default, that is, by virtue of the fact that they do not fit into an internal model of to-be-expected events (target detection by default) and second, that this internal model is generated, maintained, and updated on the basis of the nontarget information encountered during search (integration of non-target information). Furthermore, it is assumed that non-target integration and target detection can both be carried out at several processing levels simultaneously. The evidence available to support and develop the model is reviewed, and some of its general implications for a theory of selective attention are discussed.This paper is a selective summary of experimental work done in collaboration with Dieter Nattkemper and Cristina Meinecke and supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (grant Pr 118/5)     

Cognitive processes and conflict in close relationships: an attribution-efficacy model

A recently proposed model of cognitive processes underlying conflict in close relationships (Doherty, 1978, 1981a, 1981b) is revised and tested in two studies. Central to the original model are the causal attributions made for conflict and the perceived efficacy or ability to resolve conflict. The model is revised to incorporate judgments of responsibility and to provide a closer link to self-efficacy theory. The first study examines attributions and efficacy expectations in mother-child relationships. As anticipated, only weak evidence was obtained for predictions retained from the original model, high-lighting the relationship-specific nature of cognitive processes for conflict in families. A second study examines husband-wife relationships and provides evidence for the usefulness of an attribution-efficacy model for marital conflict. The attributional component of the model received greater support than that pertaining to efficacy expectations. In both studies, support was obtained for the proposal that the relation between conflict dimensions (e.g., blame) and causal dimensions is mediated by judgments of responsibility. The significance of the revisions to Doherty's model for understanding conflict in close relationships is discussed, and several avenues for further research are outlined.     

Adaptation to curvature: Eye movements or neural curvature analyzers?

Three experiments were conducted in an attempt to discriminate between an eye-movement theory and a neural curvature analyzer theory of visual adaptation to curvature. Ninety university students served as subjects and were required to inspect stimulus lines presented as (a) curved line pairs, (b) single curved lines, (c) curved line stereograms portraying curved lines concave up, to the right, or toward the subject, or (d) random-dot stereograms portraying curved lines concave up, to the right, or toward the subject. The results of the first two experiments indicate that subjects can readily adapt to the curvature in pairs of lines of opposite curvature presented in different parts of the same or opposite retinas. These results contradict the eye-movement theory of adaptation to curvature. In the third experiment, adaptation to curvature was recorded for curved lines presented as line stereograms and random-dot stereograms. It was concluded that presently the neural curvature analyzer theory of adaptation to curvature best explains the results of these three experiments.     

Featural selective attention,exemplar representation,and the inverse base-rate effect

Selective attention plays a central role in theories of category learning and representation. In exemplar theory, selective attention has typically been formalized as operating uniformly across entire stimulus dimensions. Selective featural attention operating within dimensions has been recognized as a conceptual possibility, but relatively little research has focused on evaluating it. In the present research, we explored the usefulness of selective featural attention in the context of exemplar representation. We report the results of embedding the feature-to-category relations typically associated with the inverse base-rate effect—a classic and paradoxical category-learning result— perceptual category-learning task using a category structure with three multivalued feature dimensions. An exemplar model incorporating featural selective attention accurately accounted for the inverse base-rate effect that occurred but failed to do so with only dimensional attention.     

The illusion of certainty: A catastrophe model of decision framing

Tversky and Kahneman (1981) have proposed that decision frames act to bias the processing of decision-relevant information by decision makers. Decision frames act as illusions to which most decision makers are susceptible. We believe that catastrophe theory provides a unique framework by which the effects of decision framing can be studied. Catastrophe theory has been proposed as a way to explain the sudden shifts in preference in perceptual experiments (Stewart & Peregoy, 1983). Tversky and Kahneman’s (1981) decision-framing concept, in decision situations, is proposed to be analogous to the cognitive, organizing centers underlying catastrophic changes in response in perceptual experiments. The results of this study were interpreted as demonstrating the heuristic value of catastrophe theory in describing the decision-framing phenomenon as a cognitive illusion. A version of this paper was presented to the Second Annual Convention of the american Psychological Society, June 7–10, 1990, Dallas, Texas.     

The dynamical foundations of motion pattern formation: stability,selective adaptation,and perceptual continuity

A dynamical model is used to show that global motion pattern formation for several different apparent motion stimuli can be embodied in the stable distribution of activation over a population of concurrently activated, directionally selective motion detectors. The model, which is based on motion detectors being interactive, noisy, and self-stabilizing, accounts for such phenomena as bistability, spontaneous switching, hysteresis, and selective adaptation. Simulations show that dynamical solutions to the motion correspondence problem for a bistable stimulus (two qualitatively different patterns are formed) apply as well to the solution for a monostable stimulus (only one pattern is formed) and highlight the role of interactions among sequentially stimulated detectors in establishing the state dependence and, thereby, the temporal persistence of percepts.     

Reply to silberberg and ziriax

Silberberg and Ziriax (1985) report that a modification of Vaughan's (1981) procedure produces results inconsistent with melioration (the position advocated by Vaughan) but consistent with a process they term molecular maximizing. Here it is argued that the theory of molecular maximization is not sufficiently unambiguous that researchers other than the developers can test its predictions, and that in any case none of the data presented by Silberberg and Ziriax are both clearly consistent with molecular maximization and inconsistent with melioration.     

Statistical decision theory and evolution

Two recent articles by Geisler and Diehl use Bayesian statistical decision theory to model the co-evolution of predator and prey in a simple, game-like environment. The prey is characterized by its coloration. The predator is characterized by the chromatic sensitivity of its visual system and its willingness to attack. The authors demonstrate how the coloration of prey and the perceptual system of the predator co-evolve, converging to a Nash equilibrium for both species.     

Simple and contingent adaptation effects for place of articulation in stop consonants

Experiments on selective adaptation have shown that the locus of the phonetic category boundary between two segments shifts after repetitive listening to an adapting stimulus. Theoretical interpretations of these results have proposed that adaptation occurs either entirely at an auditory level of processing or at both auditory and more abstract phonetic levels. The present experiment employed two alternating stimuli as adaptors in an attempt to distinguish between these two possible explanations. Two alternating stimuli were used as adaptors in order to test for the presence of contingent effects and to compare these results to simple adaptation using only a single adaptor. Two synthetic CV series with different vowels that varied the place of articulation of the consonant were employed. When two alternating adaptors were used, contingent adaptation effects were observed for the two stimulus series. The direction of the shifts in each series was governed by the vowel context of the adapting syllables. Using the single adaptor data, a comparison was made between the additive effects of the single adaptors and their combined effects when presented in alternating pairs. With voiced adaptors, only within-series adaptation effects were found, and these data were consistent with a on,level model of selective adaptation. However, for the voiceless adaptors, both within- and cross-series adaptation effects were found, suggesting the possible presence of two levels of adaptation to place of articulation. Further, the contingent adaptation effects with the voiceless adaptors seemed to be the result of the additive effects of the two alternating adaptors. This result indicates that previously reported contingent adaptation results may also reflect the net vowel specific adaptation effects after cancellation of other, nonvowel dependent effects and that caution is needed in interpreting such results.