Simultaneous masking in a dichotic emotion detection task

The present study investigated the possible role of ceiling effects in producing laterality effects of small magnitude in dichotic emotion detection. Twenty two right-handed undergraduate students participated in the present experiment. They were required to detect the presence of a target emotion in the expressions tones of happiness, sadness, anger, and neutrality presented dichotically. Stimuli were adjusted to 70 dB and occurred simultaneously with a white noise mask that had an intensity of 65, 70, 80, or 85 dB. Results showed a left ear advantage (LEA) for the 65 dB mask and a right ear advantage for the 85 dB mask, but only after two testing sessions. The possible existence of a generalized right ear bias that might affect the observed LEA for non-verbal tasks is discussed. Alternative explanations and limitations of the present experiment are also presented.     

Concurrent Verbal and Emotion Laterality Effects Exhibited by Normally Achieving and Learning Disabled Children

This study assessed both left- and right-hemisphere functions simultaneously when two-syllable words differing only in the initial stop consonant and spoken in different emotional tones were paired dichotically. Seventy-two right-handed normally achieving children, 12 boys and 12 girls at each of grades 1, 3, and 5, were instructed to detect either the presence of a specific word or of a specific emotion. In addition, 30 right-handed learning disabled (LD) children (age-matched to the normal controls) were assessed to determine whether LD children distribute verbal and nonverbal functions to different hemispheres. Results indicated that although both control and LD children demonstrated an overall REA for word stimuli and an LEA for emotional stimuli, and that emotional stimuli were easier to process than word stimuli, LD children were less accurate in processing both types of stimuli than their control counterparts. ‘Complementary specialization,’ as assessed through distribution of laterality effects, was found to be greater for control children than for LD children. However, the lack of consistency in complementary specialization found among the three developmental grade levels may be indicative that independent brain mechanisms underlying verbal and emotional processing have yet to be fully established in children. Further, in contrast to adult findings, a larger LEA was obtained for the emotion ‘happy’ than for the emotion ‘sad.’ It was concluded that whereas independent hemisphere processing for words and emotions is somewhat prevalent for control children, LD children might not be as strongly lateralized for opposite hemisphere processing of these functions.     

Concurrent verbal and emotion laterality effects exhibited by normally achieving and learning disabled children.

This study assessed both left- and right-hemisphere functions simultaneously when two-syllable words differing only in the initial stop consonant and spoken in different emotional tones were paired dichotically. Seventy-two right-handed normally achieving children, 12 boys and 12 girls at each of grades 1, 3, and 5, were instructed to detect either the presence of a specific word or of a specific emotion. In addition, 30 right-handed learning disabled (LD) children (age-matched to the normal controls) were assessed to determine whether LD children distribute verbal and nonverbal functions to different hemispheres. Results indicated that although both control and LD children demonstrated an overall REA for word stimuli and an LEA for emotional stimuli, and that emotional stimuli were easier to process than word stimuli, LD children were less accurate in processing both types of stimuli than their control counterparts. 'Complementary specialization,' as assessed through distribution of laterality effects, was found to be greater for control children than for LD children. However, the lack of consistency in complementary specialization found among the three developmental grade levels may be indicative that independent brain mechanisms underlying verbal and emotional processing have yet to be fully established in children. Further, in contrast to adult findings, a larger LEA was obtained for the emotion 'happy' than for the emotion 'sad.' It was concluded that whereas independent hemisphere processing for words and emotions is somewhat prevalent for control children, LD children might not be as strongly lateralized for opposite hemisphere processing of these functions.     

Anchoring effects in music: The resolution of dissonance

Most pieces of music induce in the listener a sense that some pitches sound consonant, stable, or final, while others sound more dissonant, unstable, or transient. A psychological account of the intuition that the dissonance of an unstable tone is sometimes “resolved” by following it by a stable tone that is close in pitch is provided. The perceived hierarchy differentiating tones on the basis of stability may be construed as a cognitive schema, which facilitates the encoding of some tones relative to others. A cognitive principle, melodic anchoring, which specifies the ordered relationships (between tones) that govern (i) the activation of one tonal schema over another and (ii) the assimilation or anchoring of unstable tones to the tonal schema once it has been activated is presented. In a forcedchoice paradigm, the principle is invoked to predict which chord is perceived to “underlie” a sequence that is tonally ambiguous in all respects except the ordered relationships between its tones. In a same-different task, subjects were presented with a pair of tonal sequences. When a stable tone was replaced by an unstable tone, more confusions occurred when the latter was anchored than when it was not. The accuracy advantage when the unstable tone was in the comparison as opposed to the standard sequence was lower when the unstable tone was anchored than when it was not. Finally, subjects rated how well a sequence and a chord sounded together. Melodies that contained an unstable tone were given higher ratings when the unstable tone was anchored than when it was not. Each paradigm was used to demonstrate first immediate and then delayed anchoring.     

Is attention shared between the ears?

This study tests the locus of attention during selective listening for speech-like stimuli. Can processing be differentially allocated to the two ears? Two conditions were used. The simultaneous condition involved one of four randomly chosen stop-consonants being presented to one of the ears chosen at random. The sequential condition involved two intervals; in the first S listened to the right ear; in the second S listened to the left ear. One of the four consonants was presented to an attended ear during one of these intervals. Experiment I used no distracting stimuli. Experiment II utilized a distracting consonant not confusable with any of the four target consonants. This distractor was always presented to any ear not containing a target. In both experiments, simultaneous and sequential performance were essentially identical, despite the need for attention sharing between the two ears during the simultaneous condition. We conclude that selective attention does not occur during perceptual processing of speech sounds presented to the two ears. We suggest that attentive effects arise in short-term memory following processing.     

Chicks like consonant music

The question of whether preference for consonance is rooted in acoustic properties important to the auditory system or is acquired through enculturation has not yet been resolved. Two-month-old infants prefer consonant over dissonant intervals, but it is possible that this preference is rapidly acquired through exposure to music soon after birth or in utero. Controlled-rearing studies with animals can help shed light on this question because such studies allow researchers to distinguish between biological predispositions and learned preferences. In the research reported here, we found that newly hatched domestic chicks show a spontaneous preference for a visual imprinting object associated with consonant sound intervals over an identical object associated with dissonant sound intervals. We propose that preference for harmonic relationships between frequency components may be related to the prominence of harmonic spectra in biological sounds in natural environments.     

Feature processing during high-rate auditory selective attention

Auditory event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and reaction times were, analyzed in a selective attention task in which subjects attended to tone pips presented at high rates-Xinterstimulua intervals [ISIs] of 40-200 msec). Subjects responded to infrequent target tones of a specified frequency (250 or 4000 Hz) and location (left or right ear) that were louder than otherwise identical tones presented randomly to the left and right ears. Negative difference (Nd) waves were isolated by subtracting ERPs to tones with no target features from ERPs to the same tones when they shared target location, frequency, or both frequency and location cues. Nd waves began 60-70 msec after tone onset and lasted until 252–350 msec after tone onset, even for tones with single attended cues. The duration of Nd waves exceeded the ISIs between successive tones, implying that several stimuli underwent concurrent analysis. Nd waves associated with frequency processing had scalp distributions different from those associated with location processing, implying that the features were analyzed in distinct cortical areas. Nd waves specific to auditory feature conjunction were isolated. These began at latencies of 110–120 msec, some 30-40 msec after the Nds to single features. The relative timing of the different Nd waves suggests that auditory feaure conjunction begins after a brief parallel analysis of individual features but before feature analysis is complete.     

Ear of input as a determinant of pitch-memory interference

Six experiments to evaluate the effect of presentation ear on pitch-memory interference were conducted using undergraduates as listeners. The task was to compare the pitch of two tones that were separated by an interval that included eight interpolated tones; the interpolated tones were presented either ipsilaterally or contralaterally to the presentation ear of the comparison tones. When the ear of interpolated-tone presentations was blocked, and therefore predictable, ipsilateral interference was greater than contralateral. In contrast, when the interpolated-tone presentation ear was varied randomly from trial to trial, ipsilateral and contralateral interferences were equivalent. These results are analogous to results found in previously reported auditory backward recognition masking (ABRM) experiments and suggest that the ABRM effect may be due, in part, to pitch-memory interference. Implications for theories of auditory processing and memory are discussed.     

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.     

Speech perception and the discrimination of brief auditory cues in reading disabled children

The processing of speech and nonspeech sounds by 23 reading disabled children and their age- and sex-matched controls was examined in a task requiring them to identify and report the order of pairs of stimuli. Reading disabled children were impaired in making judgments with very brief tones and with stop consonant syllables at short interstimulus intervals (ISI's). They had no unusual difficulty with vowel stimuli, vowel stimuli in a white noise background, or very brief visual figures. Poor performance on the tones and stop consonants appears to be due to specific difficulty in processing very brief auditory cues. The reading disabled children also showed deficits in the perception of naturally produced words, less sharply defined category boundaries, and a greater reliance on context in making phoneme identifications. The results suggest a perceptual deficit in some reading disabled children, which interferes with the processing of phonological information.     

为什么和声能诱发音乐情感?——音乐协和性的作用及其认知机制

音乐是高级意识活动产生的声音艺术, 对人类的情感表达和交流具有重要意义。作为连接音乐与情绪的核心要素, 协和性的形成原理至今仍然未有定论。人类如何加工多个音符构成的和声?为什么一些和声听起来协和(愉悦), 一些和声听起来不协和(不愉悦)?协和感究竟是自下而上的声学感知还是自上而下的审美体验?从古希腊时代至今, 这些问题就一直吸引着学者的目光。物理学家从协和与不协和的声学区别中寻找答案, 生理学家从听觉生理机制方面分析协和感的产生, 心理学家研究协和音程偏好是与生俱来的还是后天形成的。目前, 音乐协和性的理论内容主要以西方音乐为主, 中国传统民族音乐迫切需要开展相关的实证研究。     

The octave illusion revisited: suppression or fusion between ears?

The octave illusion occurs when each ear receives a sequence of tones alternating by 1 octave but with the high and low tones in different ears. Most listeners perceive these stimuli as a high pitch in one ear alternating with a low pitch in the other ear. D. Deutsch and P. L. Roll (1976) interpreted this phenomenon as evidence for a what-where division of auditory processing caused by sequential interactions between the tones. They argued that the pitch follows the frequency presented to the dominant ear but is lateralized toward the higher frequency component. This model was examined in 4 experiments. Results indicate that the perceived pitch approximates the fundamental frequency and that the illusion does not depend on sequential interactions. The octave illusion may arise from an interaction between dichotic fusion and binaural diplacusis rather than from suppression as proposed by Deutsch.     

The Effects of Contextual Dissonance on the Self-Concept of Youth from a High versus Low Socially Valued Group

Abstract

The present study examined the self-concept of subjects from either a high or low socially valued group who were immersed in a contextually dissonant school setting. Subjects were 315 seventh- and eighth-grade black and white boys and girls. Of this group, 54 were bused to a school where their group was in the minority (dissonant context). The remaining subjects stayed in the school where their group was in the majority (consonant context). The results supported the contextual dissonance theory for the subjects from the lower socially valued group but not for those from the higher socially valued group. A significant interaction for the former group of subjects involving Dissonant Versus Consonant Context × Male Versus Female × Fall Versus Spring Semester showed that the number of negative attributes ascribed to the self was higher for the subjects bused into a dissonant context than for those remaining in a consonant context; this difference was, however, significant for the fall testing only. Also, change in self-concept from fall to spring semester differed depending on whether the subjects were male or female as well as on whether or not they were bused into a dissonant context.     

Where is the “D” in dissonance?1

The experiment tested the hypothesis that cognitive dissonance has a general drive arousal component which facilitates performance on simple cognitive tasks and impairs performance on complex cognitive tasks After writing a consonant or a dissonant essay dealing with proposed changes in university parking regulations, subjects were given either a simple or a complex task (rote memory or creativity). To maximize dissonance, free choice regarding participation was deliberately emphasized, resulting in a high proportion of subjects who refused to comply with the request Data from refusers were retained and compared with data obtained from compliers Appropriate control groups were employed in order to ascertain whether the results were attributable to the process of self-selection among complier and refuser subjects The dissonance manipulation was successful subjects who wrote dissonant essays subsequently displayed more favorable attitudes toward the parking proposal Their performance on complex cognitive tasks was not unpaired, however, nor did they perform better on simple cognitive tasks than did subjects who experienced no dissonance Subjects who refused to write dissonant essays did better on the complex task than subjects who complied in either the consonant or dissonant conditions Data from the control groups indicated that refusers did not differ from compliers in their initial attitudes toward the proposal nor in their ability to perform the complex cognitive task The results seem to be due to the facilitating effects of refusing to comply with the dissonance instructions, and suggest that the practice of eliminating subjects who refuse to comply may result in the loss of some highly informative data     

Psychological consequences of majority-minority status: a questionnaire study of two high schools

A questionnaire survey of high school students investigated the psychological phenomena associated with teenagers' membership in majority and minority groups. In the majority group, the socioeconomic status of parents was consonant with that of the high school; in the minority group, the status was dissonant with that of the school. The psychological impact of attending high schools that were consonant or dissonant with the student's family background was examined. The results are discussed in terms of the students' personal adjustments: views of their parents; and political, social, and personal attitudes and values. Minority teenagers were found to be more oriented to the home (especially to the mother) and to scholastic and future achievement, whereas majority teenagers were more oriented to their school peer group. Gender differences were also examined.     

Auditory ERP in extremely premature 5-year-old children

The aim of this research was to test the hypothesis of a functional impairment in the automatic detection of deviant tones in 141 children born after 25 to 28 weeks of gestational age, as compared to 45 age-matched full-term control children. All of them were assessed at age 5 years 9 months and instructed to listen passively to two different pure tones (1000 vs 1200 Hz; 20 vs 80%) counterbalanced between ears. Rarity was thus defined by specific ear by tone combinations. The temporal N100 showed a clear contralateral functional organization of the central auditory pathway, especially for the left ear, but without group difference. By contrast, in full-term controls but not in premature children, the central N200 was specifically increased over frontal leads to rare stimuli as compared to frequent. Premature children demonstrated a lack of brain response when more complex processing integrating different informations was required.     

The influence of mood on the search for supporting versus conflicting information: dissonance reduction as a means of mood regulation?

Focusing on similarities between the mood regulation approach and dissonance theory, this article addresses the interplay between dissonance and mood by examining how individuals search for information after making a decision while under the influence of positive versus negative mood. Study 1 suggested that negative mood increased the preference for consonant over dissonant information after decisions, whereas positive mood led to a more balanced information search. In Study 2, participants in negative mood rated consonant information as more pleasant and dissonant information as more annoying than participants in positive mood. In addition, the results suggested that mood regulation processes took place. In Study 3, the findings from Study 1 were replicated with a paradigm in which higher stakes were involved.     

Endogenous Covert Spatial Orienting in Audition Cost-Benefit Analyses of Reaction Times and Event related Potentials

The presentstudy examines mechanisms ofendogenous covertspatialorienting inaudition as revealed by event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and reaction times (RTs). In one experimental condition, subjects were instructed to respond to any target tone irrespective of whether it was presented in a valid (spatially predictive cue), neutral (uninformative cue), or invalid (misleading cue) trial. In another experimental condition, only target tones presented at a cued position required a response-that is, subjects could completely ignore tones presented at the uncued ear. Cue validity had an effect on RT, which consisted in benefits for valid trials and in costs for invalid trials relative to the RTs in neutral trials. There were also distinct ERP effects of cue validity in the 100-300 msec time range. These ERP effects were enlarged in the condition in which uncued tones could be ignored. The effects of cue validity onRTsandERPsdemonstratedcovertorientinginauditionbothforstimulirequiring anovert response andalso for stimuli that did not require a behavioural response. It is argued that this attentional selection is located at intermediate stages of information processing, rather than at peripheral stages such as basic sensory-specific processing or response selection.     

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.