Vocal pitch discrimination in the motor system

Speech production can be broadly separated into two distinct components: Phonation and Articulation. These two aspects require the efficient control of several phono-articulatory effectors. Speech is indeed generated by the vibration of the vocal-folds in the larynx (F0) followed by 'filtering" by articulators, to select certain resonant frequencies out of that wave (F1, F2, F3, etc.). Recently it has been demonstrated that the motor representation of articulators (lips and tongue) participates in the discrimination of articulatory sounds (lips- and tongue-related speech sounds). Here we investigate whether the results obtained on articulatory sounds discrimination could be extended to phonation by applying a dual-pulse TMS protocol while subjects had to discriminate F0-shifted vocal utterances [a]. Stimulation over the larynx motor representation, compared to the control site (tongue/lips motor cortex), induced a reduction in RT for stimuli including a subtle pitch shift. We demonstrate that vocal pitch discrimination, in analogy with the articulatory component, requires the contribution of the motor system and that this effect is somatotopically organized.     

Vocal congruence in mother-infant play

Turn-taking is the fundamental temporal structure of adult dialogue. This structure defines two types of joint silence: intrapersonal pause (silence bounded by the vocalizations of a single speaker) and switching pause (silence bounded by the vocalizations of different speakers). Switching pauses mark the boundaries of the turn exchange. In adult conversation the mean durations of both types of pause are characteristically matched between partners. This matching, termed vocal congruence, occurs developmentally earlier in the case of switching pauses. We hypothesized and confirmed that mothers and infants match switching pauses but not intrapersonal pauses at 4 months, even though the infants' vocalizations are prelinguistic. Second, since there are known affective correlates of vocal congruence in adult conversation, we hypothesized a similar affective correlate for mother-infant vocal congruence. We found, for the intrapersonal pause only, that the degree of matching within a dyad correlated with infant affective engagement. We conclude, from switching pause congruence, that a turntaking dialogic structure is being regulated in the mother-infant pair at 4 months in the same way as seen in adult conversation. Thus, both the temporal structure of adult dialogue and its affective correlate are prelinguistic.Supported in part by NIMH grant No. 41675.     

Vocal learning in birds and humans

Vocal learning is the modification of vocal output by reference to auditory information. It allows for the imitation and improvisation of sounds that otherwise would not occur. The emergence of this skill may have been a primary step in the evolution of human language, but vocal learning is not unique to humans. It also occurs in songbirds, where its biology can be studied with greater ease. What follows is a review of some of the salient anatomical, developmental, and behavioral features of vocal learning, alongside parallels and differences between vocal learning in songbirds and humans.     

Vocal and nonvocal discriminative performance in monkeys

Discriminative performance of a lever press and a vocal call was compared in five macaques. The animals exhibited similar scores for Response Rate, Efficiency, and Error Index. Total vocal responses were slightly higher than total lever responses. Latency for vocal responses was significantly greater than lever press. Similar scores in measures of performance of the two behaviors indicate that discriminative vocalization is not exceedingly difficult. Failure by others to achieve discriminative vocalization in studies employing weak positive-reinforcement contingencies suggest that certain experimental paradigms are unsatisfactory for vocal conditioning.     

Vocal cues in emotion encoding and decoding

This research examines the correspondence between theoretical predictions on vocal expression patterns in naturally occurring emotions (as based on the component process theory of emotion; Scherer, 1986) and empirical data on the acoustic characteristics of actors' portrayals. Two male and two female professional radio actors portrayed anger, sadness, joy, fear, and disgust based on realistic scenarios of emotion-eliciting events. A series of judgment studies was conducted to assess the degree to which judges are able to recognize the intended emotion expressions. Disgust was relatively poorly recognized; average recognition accuracy for the other emotions attained 62.8% across studies. A set of portrayals reaching a satisfactory level of recognition accuracy underwent digital acoustic analysis. The results for the acoustic parameters extracted from the speech signal show a number of significant differences between emotions, generally confirming the theoretical predictions.This research was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Sche 156/8-5). The authors acknowledge collaboration of Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Cologne, in producing professional versions of actor emotion portrayals, and thank Kurt Balser, Theodor Gehm, Christoph Gierschner, Judy Hall, Ursula Hess, Alice Isen, and one anonymous reviewer for helpful comments and contributions.     

The development of articulatory signatures in children

The ability to perceive and produce sounds at multiple time scales is a skill necessary for the acquisition of language. Unlike speech perception, which develops early in life, the production of speech sounds starts at a few months and continues into late childhood with the development of speech-motor skills. Though there is detailed information available on early phonological development, there is very little information on when various articulatory features achieve adult-like maturity. We use modern spectral analysis to investigate the development of three language features associated with three different timescales in vocal utterances from typically developing children between 4 and 8 years. We make comparisons with adult speech and find age dependence in the appearance of these features. Results suggest that as children get older they exhibit increasingly more power in features associated with shorter time scales, thereby indicating the maturation of fine motor control in speech. Such data from typically developing children could provide milestones of speech production at different timescales. Since impairments in spoken language often provide the first warning signs of a language disorder we suggest that speech production could also be used to probe language disorders.     

Vocal mistuning reveals the origin of musical scales

ABSTRACT

Theories of the origin of tonality from the time of Pythagoras onward have assumed that the intervals used in musical scales are defined mathematically based on harmonic ratios. Virtually all such theories are predicated on tunable instruments (e.g. strings), whereas the voice is the most ancestral and universal instrument used to make music. In the present study, we analysed the tuning of sung musical intervals from a familiar song, doing so across both trained and untrained singers. Contrary to the predictions of traditional theories, we found that sung intervals (unlike those of instruments) showed marked overlap with neighbouring interval categories. Furthermore, we found that listeners of these sung productions did not base their aesthetic judgments of singing quality on the precision of tuning of sung intervals. We consolidate these results into a model of tonality based on both vocal and sensory factors that contribute to the formation of sung melodies.     

Vocal Imitations and the Identification of Sound Events

It is commonly observed that a speaker vocally imitates a sound that she or he intends to communicate to an interlocutor. We report on an experiment that examined the assumption that vocal imitations can effectively communicate a referent sound and that they do so by conveying the features necessary for the identification of the referent sound event. Participants were required to sort a set of vocal imitations of everyday sounds. The resulting clusters corresponded in most of the cases to the categories of the referent sound events, indicating that the imitations enabled the listeners to recover what was imitated. Furthermore, a binary decision tree analysis showed that a few characteristic acoustic features predicted the clusters. These features also predicted the classification of the referent sounds but did not generalize to the categorization of other sounds. This showed that, for the speaker, vocally imitating a sound consists of conveying the acoustic features important for recognition, within the constraints of human vocal production. As such vocal imitations prove to be a phenomenon potentially useful to study sound identification.     

Developmental Changes in the Effects of the Physical and Vocal Attractiveness Stereotypes

Age changes in the effects of the physical and vocal attractiveness stereotypes on perceivers′ interpersonal impressions were examined. Perceivers were students attending elementary school (grade 2 and up), high school, and college. The effect of physical attractiveness declined with age, particularly for female targets. The effect of vocal attractiveness increased with age, particularly for male targets. A physical attractiveness by vocal attractiveness interaction was also obtained, indicating that the effect of one stereotype was more pronounced for higher levels of the other stereotype. The interaction was more pronounced for higher ages, particularly for female targets. Implications of the age changes in attractiveness effects and the moderator effects of target sex were discussed.     

Vocal syntax development in the white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys).

Birdsong development exemplifies the interplay between experience and predisposition that occurs during behavioral ontogeny. Songbirds must hear song models to develop normal song, yet they preferentially learn conspecific song when given a choice in the laboratory. To the extent that features guiding this selective learning are pre-encoded in the brain, such features should also develop in the song of young birds not exposed to them in tutor models. To investigate whether song syntax-phrase number and order--is such a feature in the white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys), the authors tutored males of this species with separate phrase models. Birds learned and assembled these into songs of species-typical sequence, suggesting that syntax is to some degree pre-encoded in white-crowned sparrows. Birds also learned heterospecific phrases, confirming previous evidence that note phonology is not the primary cue for selective song learning in this species.     

Myoelectronic signal-based methodology for the analysis of handwritten signatures

With the overall aim of improving the synthesis of handwritten signatures, we have studied how muscle activation depends on handwriting style for both text and flourish. Surface electromyographic (EMG) signals from a set of twelve arm and trunk muscles were recorded in synchronization with handwriting produced on a digital Tablet. Correlations between these EMG signals and handwritten trajectory signals were analyzed so as to define the sequence of muscles activated during the different parts of the signature. Our results establish a correlation between the speed of the movement, stroke size, handwriting style and muscle activation. Muscle activity appeared to be clustered as a function of movement speed and handwriting style, a finding which may be used for filter design in a signature synthesizer.     

Integrating dispositions, signatures, and the interpersonal domain

A person's behavior across situations can be characterized in terms of a mean level (disposition), a dispersion within the person around that mean level, and a stable organization to the pattern of dispersion (signature). The authors' goals were to examine the structure and stability of behavior, both at the level of behavioral dispositions and at the level of behavioral signatures. Participants completed event-contingent records of their social interactions over a 20-day period. Participants recorded their own social behavior (dominant, agreeable, submissive, quarrelsome) in 4 situations defined by the perceived social behavior of their primary interaction partners (agreeable-dominant, agreeable-submissive, quarrelsome- submissive, quarrelsome-dominant). Findings suggest that (a) once the normative influences of situations on behavior are removed, the remaining behavioral variation reflects both consistent cross-situational differences between individuals (dispositions) and consistent situational differences within individuals (signatures); (b) both dispositions and signatures display a 2-dimensional structure in adherence to the interpersonal circle; and (c) both dispositions and signatures constitute stable aspects of personality functioning.     

Vocal changes in stutterers and nonstutterers during monotoned speech

For years, reports have circulated that stutterers experience marked decrements in their stuttering when they speak or read in monotone. Wingate has suggested that the ameliorative effects of various novel speaking conditions on stuttering can be attributed to modifications in vocalization induced by such conditions. The present study was conducted to see whether this explanation would extend to monotoned speech as well. Ten teenage and adult stutterers and 10 normal speakers were tested in control and monotone reading conditions. Dependent measures were the frequencies of disfluency and stuttering, fundamental frequency, fundamental frequency standard deviation, vocal SPL, vocal SPL standard deviation, and fluent reading rate. Only within-group statistical comparisons were made, because members of the two groups could not be matched pairwise along critical vocal parameters. The major findings of this study indicated that across the two conditions, both groups significantly reduced their fundamental frequency, fundamental frequency standard deviation, vocal SPL and vocal SPL standard deviation. Only the stutterers exhibited a significant decrement in disfluency and stuttering. The normals did not evince enough disfluency in the control condition for a reduction to occur during monotoning. Neither group effected a reduction in fluent reading rates. These and other findings and interpretations are discussed relative to Wingate's modified vocalization hypothesis.     

中国、波兰大学生对基于声音线索的情绪知觉*

研究考察了42名大学生（中国21人,波兰21人）对男、女性用5种不同情绪声音（高兴、生气、害怕、难过和中性）表达的中性语义句子的情绪类型和强度判断,从而分析中国、波兰不同文化背景下,个体对基于声音线索的情绪知觉差异。结果表明：（1）中国被试对声音情绪类型判断的正确率以及情绪强度的评定上均高于波兰被试,说明在声音情绪知觉上存在组内优势;（2）所有被试对女性声音材料情绪类型识别的正确率以及情绪强度的评定均高于对男性声音材料;（3）在对情绪类型判断上,被试对害怕情绪识别的正确率高于对高兴、难过和中性情绪,对中性情绪识别的正确率最低;（4）在情绪强度评定上,被试对害怕情绪的评定强度高于对难过情绪,对高兴情绪的评定强度最低。     

ERP signatures of auditory awareness in cross-modal distractor-induced deafness

Previous research showed that dual-task processes such as the attentional blink are not always transferable from unimodal to cross-modal settings. This study investigated whether such a transfer can be stated for a distractor-induced impairment of target detection established in vision (distractor-induced blindness, DIB) and recently observed in the auditory modality (distractor-induced deafness, DID). A cross-modal DID effect was confirmed: The detection of an auditory target indicated by a visual cue was impaired if multiple auditory distractors preceded the target. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to identify psychophysiological correlates of target detection. A frontal negativity about 200 ms succeeded by a sustained, widespread negativity was associated with auditory target awareness. In contrast to unimodal findings, P3 amplitude was not enhanced for hits. The results support the notion that early frontal attentional processes are linked to auditory awareness, whereas the P3 does not seem to be a reliable indicator of target access.     

Intra-active signatures in Capoeira: More-than-human pathways towards activism

This paper is informed by interdisciplinary research, practice and activism (Allegranti and Silas 2014; 2016, 2017) combining dance movement psychotherapy, cognitive neuroscience and the Afro-Brazilian art of Capoeira. Framed by feminist new materialism and posthumanism (Manning 2013; Harraway 2012; Barad 2007), and as an antidote to our global crisis, this writing foregrounds conceptual and political discourses that work towards counterhegemonic understandings of bodies, affect, brain activity and relating. Here, we present case studies arising from our ‘Capoeira Lab’ a hybrid laboratory, dance studio and psychotherapeutic space that demonstrates more-than-humanism in action, and what happens when insights from psychotherapy, neuroscience and capoeira are read through one another. To paraphrase Barad (2007), we propose Intra-active Signatures: a distributed and dynamic process between bodies, technology and environments – typified by the capoeira exchange. This more-than-human focus dislocates the centrality of the human and the cognitive bias instead, yielding ecologically renewable and neurodiverse ways human-environment relating and enacting ethical change. Ripples of movement in relating evolve micro acts of activism.