Cross-Language Perception of Cantonese Vowels Spoken by Native and Non-native Speakers

This study examined the effect of native language background on listeners’ perception of native and non-native vowels spoken by native (Hong Kong Cantonese) and non-native (Mandarin and Australian English) speakers. They completed discrimination and an identification task with and without visual cues in clear and noisy conditions. Results indicated that visual cues did not facilitate perception, and performance was better in clear than in noisy conditions. More importantly, the Cantonese talker’s vowels were the easiest to discriminate, and the Mandarin talker’s vowels were as intelligible as the native talkers’ speech. These results supported the interlanguage speech native intelligibility benefit patterns proposed by Hayes-Harb et al. (J Phonetics 36:664–679, 2008). The Mandarin and English listeners’ identification patterns were similar to those of the Cantonese listeners, suggesting that they might have assimilated Cantonese vowels to their closest native vowels. In addition, listeners’ perceptual patterns were consistent with the principles of Best’s Perceptual Assimilation Model (Best in Speech perception and linguistic experience: issues in cross-language research. York Press, Timonium, 1995).     

Auditory overselectivity in autistic children

Autistic and normal children were trained to respond to a complex stimulus containing two auditory components. After the discrimination was acquired, the individual components were presented separately, allowing assessment of the extent to which the child's responding was controlled by one or both of the cues. The autistic children, unlike the normal children, provided evidence for stimulus overselectivity in that 6 of 8 autistic subjects responded to only one of the components. These results are consistent with those of previous studies which showed that when autistic children are presented with a complex visual or multiple-modality stimulus, they selectively respond to only one component of the complex. The present results extend the stimulus overselectivity hypothesis to the situation where all of the stimuli occur within the auditory modality. It is suggested that auditory overselectivity may partially account for autistic deficits in speech comprehension.     

Failure to replicate visual discrimination learning with a 1-min delay of reward

Two experiments were carried out in an attempt to replicate Lett's (1974) demonstration of visual discrimination learning with a 1-min delay of reward. In Experiment 1, controls for olfactory cues were introduced by testing animals in different orders from day to day and by reversing the positions of the discrimination chambers within days; also, secondary reinforcement effects were precluded by the use of opaque rather than transparent doors to the discrimination chambers. No evidence of learning was found either in a group of rats returned to the home cage during the delay or in a group left in the apparatus during the delay. It was hypothesized that the failure to find improvement in Experiment 1 might have resulted from either the controls for odor cues or from a lack of memory retrieval cues provided by the apparatus. In Experiment 2, both of these hypotheses were tested and neither was supported. The Lett group in Experiment 2 was run according to the exact procedures used by Lett and still no learning was demonstrated. It was concluded that further demonstrations of visual discrimination learning with a 1-min delay of reward will be necessary for the acceptance of the validity of this phenomenon.     

Cue discrimination and forgetting

Subjects learned paired associate fists in which word triads were paired with nouns to a partial criterion; they were then given both an immediate and a 1-week delayed recognition test for discrimination among the triads and a cued recall test. Recall after 1 week was slightly poorer than that occurring immediately, but it was unaffected by various patterns of element identity among the triads. Discrimination improved somewhat over the 1-week interval. Further experiments showed that the immediate test was responsible for both reducing forgetting and improving discrimination, but both effects were independent of identity structure. Forgetting cannot be attributed to loss of differentiation of cues.     

Visual and tactual form discrimination: Psychophysical comparison within and between modalities

Intermodal perceptual equivaience was investigated, using visual and tactual oddity discrimination and cross-modal matching-to-sample tasks. Four groups of Ss were presented with 100 problems made up of randomly derived forms from five levels of sidedness. The same quadratic relationship was observed for all tasks as a function of complexity, with optimal performance at eight sides. Comman information utilization, as indicated by intercorrelations of performance variables and by correlational analyses with differences in form measures, was not as pronounced within side classes. Evidence concerning the nature of pattern-feature usage in discrimination was obtained from graphical analyses.     

Reaction time to different wavelengths at various luminances

The present investigation is concerned with determining whether or not differences in the reaction times exist in a human subject’s responses to 6 different wavelengths equated at 5 levels of luminance. The heterochromatic matching was done by the method of flicker photometry and checked by the method of direct comparison. Simple reaction time, the time interval starting with the presentation of a visual stimulus and terminating in a manual response, was used as the method of determining the latencies for the establishment of equal sensory effects for the different wavelengths. Monocular viewing of the stimuli was used by two subjects and reaction times are determined over a luminance range of 5.2 log units around a central value of I millilambert. The results indicated that simple reaction time is inversely related to stimulus luminance. There were no differences in the reaction times to the different wavelengths at the four highest luminance levels; at the lowest luminance level, the wave-lengths fan out in a manner that is in line with the classical data of vision. In other words, the visual functions obtained with simple reaction time parallel certain well-known visual functions in intensity discrimination, flicker and visual acutty-the results may be accounted for by the Duplicity Theory of vision.     

All about EVE: The Early Vision Emulation software

EVE, theEarly VisionEmulation software, is a set of computer programs designed to compute models of early visual processing. EVE may be used with a wide variety of models concerning spatial detection and discrimination, motion analysis, and issues of spatial sampling. EVE is modular and flexible. It runs under the UNIX operating system, and is device-independent. We describe the implementation of the EVE software and discuss how it may be applied to several visual models.     

Automation of learning-set testing: The video-task paradigm

Researchers interested in studying discrimination learning in primates have typically utilized variations in the Wisconsin General Test Apparatus (WGTA). In the present experiment, a new testing apparatus for the study of primate learning is proposed. In the video-task paradigm, rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) respond to computer-generated stimuli by manipulating a joystick. Using this apparatus, discrimination learning-set data for 2 monkeys were obtained. Performance on Trial 2 exceeded 80% within 200 discrimination learning problems. These data illustrate the utility of the video-task paradigm in comparative research. Additionally, the efficient learning and rich data that were characteristic of this study suggest several advantages of the present testing paradigm over traditional WGTA testing.     

Wild robins (Petroica longipes) respond to human gaze

Gaze following and awareness of attentional cues are hallmarks of human and non-human social intelligence. Here, we show that the North Island robin (Petroica longipes), a food-hoarding songbird endemic to New Zealand, responds to human eyes. Robins were presented with six different conditions, in which two human experimenters altered the orientation or visibility of their body, head or eyes in relation to mealworm prey. One experimenter had visual access to the prey, and the second experimenter did not. Robins were then given the opportunity to ‘steal’ one of two mealworms presented by each experimenter. Robins responded by preferentially choosing the mealworm in front of the experimenter who could not see, in all conditions but one. Robins failed to discriminate between experimenters who were facing the mealworm and those who had their head turned 90° to the side. This may suggest that robins do not make decisions using the same eye visibility cues that primates and corvids evince, whether for ecological, experiential or evolutionary reasons.     

Anatomically based measurement of facial expressions in simulated versus hypnotically induced affect

In an attempt to determine whether hypnotically induced affect could be reliably discriminated from simulations, three hypnotically trained female undergraduate subjects were presented with posthypnotic cues to either experience or simulate varying degrees of anxiety and pleasure. Facial expressions generated by subjects in response to these cues were recorded on videotape and coded by means of the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). It was hypothesized that simulated emotional expressions, requiring greater cortical processing, would be marked by longer onset latencies and greater irregularity or fluctuation in muscular contraction than the presumably automatic changes in facial behavior accompanying posthypnotic emotions. Statistical analyses confirmed both expectations. The results were viewed as reflecting support for the validity of posthypnotically cued affect.     

Sinusoidal plucks and bows are not categorically perceived,either

Cutting and Rosner (Perception & Psychophysics, 1974,16, 564–570) reported that two acoustic nonspeech continua varying in rise time were categorically perceived. We have already shown (Rosen & Howell,Perception & Psychophysics, 1981,30, 156–168) that the reason their sawtooth continuum was perceived in such a way, and in particular why it exhibited a midcontinuum peak in the discrimination function, was entirely due to the stimuli not having the intended rise times. The other nonspeech continuum that varied in rise time and was reported to be categorically perceived used a sinusoidal carrier. Although the labeling functions obtained were not as sharp as those obtained with sawtooth stimuli, the characteristic midcontinuum discrimination peak was found. We generated such a set of sinusoidal stimuli and found no evidence of categorical perception. Just as we have previously found for sawtooth stimuli, discrimination is best at the short rise-time end of the continuum and decreases monotonically with increasing rise time.     

How images may or may not represent flowers: picture–object correspondence in bumblebees (Bombus impatiens)?

Studies of bee cognition frequently use two-dimensional stimuli referred to as floral patterns, and yet how bees perceive pictorial representations is not known. An investigation of bumblebee (Bombus impatiens) picture–object correspondence was undertaken according to the theory of Fagot et al. (Picture perception in animals. Psychology Press Ltd, East Sussex, pp 295–320, 2000) that pictures and objects may be confused, perceived as independent or equivalent. In three experiments, bumblebees were given discrimination training and unrewarded testing in a radial maze. In the first experiment, preferences between artificial flowers and photographs of those flowers revealed a significant learned preference for the stimulus rewarded during training: no confusion following training. In the second experiment, bees did transfer learning from artificial flowers to photographs: some commonality between an object and photograph was perceived. In the third experiment, bees spontaneously generalized a learned preference for one artificial flower to its silhouette, but only for one of two flowers used in training. No generalization was obtained to drawn images. Some transfer between image and object is exhibited, likely by low-level feature matching, but transfer is poor with degraded images, cautioning against extrapolation of picture-based responding to natural correspondents. Despite evidence that bees exhibit some transfer while retaining discrimination, it is likely that the observed response is due to generalization more akin to confusion than true equivalence. Furthermore, although 2D patterning cues (line, edge and shade) provide discriminable cues for bees between 2D stimuli, it is not here supported that such features are perceived as equivalent to the intended floral structures.     

Real or imagined incomplete lateralization of function in females?

Visual field effects for 30 normal familial right-handed females were investigated with 4-point random forms known to be recognized more accurately in the right visual field by normal familial right-handed males, and the relationship between spatial ability and various performance patterns was examined. The forms were presented 2 deg in the left or right visual field. After a 10-sec delay, the subject decided whether or not a form exposed in central vision was the same as the stimulus. Incomplete lateralization of function appeared to be supported by the finding of no field differences. An alternative explanation was discussed since visual field superiority was significantly correlated with WAIS Block Design scores scaled for age, females with relatively low scores showing a right visual field superiority and females with relatively high scores showing a left visual field superiority. The experiment was repeated with 30 familial right-handed males. A significant right visual field superiority was obtained, but visual field superiorities were not correlated with measures of visuo-spatial or verbal ability.     

Visually induced gains in pitch discrimination: Linking audio-visual processing with auditory abilities

Perception is fundamentally a multisensory experience. The principle of inverse effectiveness (PoIE) states how the multisensory gain is maximal when responses to the unisensory constituents of the stimuli are weak. It is one of the basic principles underlying multisensory processing of spatiotemporally corresponding crossmodal stimuli that are well established at behavioral as well as neural levels. It is not yet clear, however, how modality-specific stimulus features influence discrimination of subtle changes in a crossmodally corresponding feature belonging to another modality. Here, we tested the hypothesis that reliance on visual cues to pitch discrimination follow the PoIE at the interindividual level (i.e., varies with varying levels of auditory-only pitch discrimination abilities). Using an oddball pitch discrimination task, we measured the effect of varying visually perceived vertical position in participants exhibiting a wide range of pitch discrimination abilities (i.e., musicians and nonmusicians). Visual cues significantly enhanced pitch discrimination as measured by the sensitivity index d’, and more so in the crossmodally congruent than incongruent condition. The magnitude of gain caused by compatible visual cues was associated with individual pitch discrimination thresholds, as predicted by the PoIE. This was not the case for the magnitude of the congruence effect, which was unrelated to individual pitch discrimination thresholds, indicating that the pitch-height association is robust to variations in auditory skills. Our findings shed light on individual differences in multisensory processing by suggesting that relevant multisensory information that crucially aids some perceivers’ performance may be of less importance to others, depending on their unisensory abilities.     

A multiple-choice airstream design for olfactory discrimination training of small animals

A multiple wind-tunnel olfactory discrimination apparatus is described and evaluated. The apparatus allows for the simultaneous presentation of odor or visual cues and permits direct comparisons to be made on visual and olfactory discrimination performance.     

The possible use of IBM-compatible computers and digital-to-analog conversion to assess children for reading disabilities and to increase their phonemic awareness

Hurford and Sanders (1990) and Hurford (1990) have been successful at employing digital-toanalog (D/A) conversion to remediate phonemic processing deficiencies in young disabled readers. The present study outlines how D/A conversion might be used to identify students who are at risk for reading disabilities. A large sample of first-quarter first graders (227) was administered tests of reading (the Word Identification and Word Attack subtests of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests-Revised), a measure of intelligence (IQ according to the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised), and two measures of phonemic processing (phonemic discrimination and phonemic segmentation). The phonemic processing measures were significantly related to the measures of reading (ps < .0001). Students assigned to at-risk and not-at-risk groups on the basis of their reading scores were significantly different on the phonemic processing measures and on IQ. No differences were due to age. After the data were reanalyzed with IQ as a covariate, only phonemic segmentation differentiated the two groups. Although phonemic discrimination may be less useful for identifying young at-risk students, it seems to help in the remediation of phonemic processing deficiencies. Phonemic discrimination training would be less effective were it not for D/A conversion with personal computers.     

Retrieval operations in cued recall and recognition

The present study compared the effects of two classes of experimental manipulations on the recognition and cued recall of target words learned in the presence of list cues. One class of manipulations, learning instructions (repetition vs. meaningful rehearsal), had similar effects on recall and recognition, whereas the other, preexperimental association between target and cue words, had separable effects: Cue-to-target association affected only recall, while target-to-cue association affected only recognition performance. Recall and recognition were thus viewed as fundamentally similar processes, both of which require retrieval operations. Differences between the two were attributed to the differential abilities of the recall and recognition retrieval cues to access the original episodic event.     

Neuronal correlates of three attentional strategies during affective picture processing: an fMRI study

This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study directly compared the neurocircuitry involved in three different attentional strategies during affective picture processing. We exposed 40 participants (20 men, 20 women) to images depicting dental treatment, as well as neutral scenes. They were asked to do one of three tasks while watching the same pictures: directing their attention toward a foreground object within the picture (distraction), classifying whether the image showed dental treatment, or deciding whether the scene elicited fear of pain (introspection). The participants performed the distraction and classification task with high accuracy and rated only 11 % of the dental treatment pictures as pain relevant. Introspection was associated with increased activation of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC), relative to the two other conditions. Since the dental, relative to the neutral, pictures elicited enhanced DMPFC activation across all conditions, this underlines the role of this brain region for the assignment, as well as self-reference, of affective meaning. Moreover, self-reported dental anxiety was positively correlated with activation of a pain modulatory network (DMPFC, basal ganglia) when the participants focused on the pain relevance of the dental treatment cues. For future studies, it seems promising to study a high-anxious group or even patients afflicted with dental phobia.