A simulated “cocktail party” with up to three sound sources

Listeners identified spoken words, letters, and numbers and the spatial location of these utterances in three listening conditions as a function of the number of simultaneously presented utterances. The three listening conditions were a normal listening condition, in which the sounds were presented over seven possible loudspeakers to a listener seated in a sound-deadened listening room; a one-headphone listening condition, in which a single microphone that was placed in the listening room delivered the sounds to a single headphone worn by the listener in a remote room; and a stationary KEMAR listening condition, in which binaural recordings from an acoustic manikin placed in the listening room were delivered to a listener in the remote room. The listeners were presented one, two, or three simultaneous utterances. The results show that utterance identification was better in the normal listening condition than in the one-headphone condition, with the KEMAR listening condition yielding intermediate levels of performance. However, the differences between listening in the normal and in the one-headphone conditions were much smaller when two, rather than three, utterances were presented at a time. Localization performance was good for both the normal and the KEMAR listening conditions and at chance for the one-headphone condition. The results suggest that binaural processing is probably more important for solving the “cocktail party” problem when there are more than two concurrent sound sources.     

When SOFA primes TOUCH: Interdependence of spelling, sound, and meaning in “semantically mediated” phonological priming

Three experiments test for semantically mediated priming of a word's phonology (e.g., sofa, an associate of couch, primes naming performance to touch). In the first two experiments, words that were body-rime-inconsistent (compare touch to couch) were used as naming targets. In the third experiment, words that were body-rime-consistent were also used (i.e., sofa primed pouch). Low-frequency inconsistent words yield a high rate of pronunciation errors when they were primed by indirectly related words, such as sofa, in both a standard naming task and a speeded naming task. High-frequency inconsistent words yielded slower naming times when they were primed by indirectly related words in a speeded naming task, but consistent words showed no significant effects of the primes. The results suggest that the relationship between semantics and phonology plays an important, early role in word perception.     

“Anchor-range” results with “same” and “different” responses and similar and dissimilar stimuli

Summary Blocks of pairs of dissimilar (anchor-like) circles were unexpectedly followed by single pairs of similar circles and vice versa. The dissimilar circles were 3 and 10 mm in diameter, and the similar circles were 3 and 5 mm, 5 and 7 mm, and 7 and 10 mm in diameter. In a second experiment, the dissimilar and similar circles did not overlap in size (e.g., they were 1.5 and 5 mm and 7 and 10 mm, respectively). The same responses to the unexpected same pairs of similar circles were faster than the same responses to the identical pairs in the blocks. In contrast, the different responses to the unexpected different pairs of similar circles were slower than the different responses to the identical pairs in the blocks. Similar stimuli accelerate same responses and slow down different responses. So the time results (and the error results as well) suggest that the context of the block dissimilar circles increased the perceived similarity of the unexpected similar circles. These anchor-range results are not explained by Thurstonian theories, which are based on the absolute properties of stimuli. Instead, they imply that the relation between the similar circles in the context of the relation between the dissimilar circles affected performance.     

“Heredity” and “environment” in biology and psychology

The Psychological Record - Hereditary theories are considered that purport to explain behavioral facts. The use of the term, heredity, is traced to its non-scientific, common sense derivation in...     

Neuro-cognitive aspects of “OM” sound/syllable perception: A functional neuroimaging study

The sound “OM” is believed to bring mental peace and calm. The cortical activation associated with listening to sound “OM” in contrast to similar non-meaningful sound (TOM) and listening to a meaningful Hindi word (AAM) has been investigated using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The behaviour interleaved gradient technique was employed in order to avoid interference of scanner noise. The results reveal that listening to “OM” sound in contrast to the meaningful Hindi word condition activates areas of bilateral cerebellum, left middle frontal gyrus (dorsolateral middle frontal/BA 9), right precuneus (BA 5) and right supramarginal gyrus (SMG). Listening to “OM” sound in contrast to “non-meaningful” sound condition leads to cortical activation in bilateral middle frontal (BA9), right middle temporal (BA37), right angular gyrus (BA 40), right SMG and right superior middle frontal gyrus (BA 8). The conjunction analysis reveals that the common neural regions activated in listening to “OM” sound during both conditions are middle frontal (left dorsolateral middle frontal cortex) and right SMG. The results correspond to the fact that listening to “OM” sound recruits neural systems implicated in emotional empathy.     

Perceptual restoration of a “missing” speech sound: Auditory induction or illusion?

This study investigated whether the apparent completeness of the acoustic speech signal during phonemic restoration derives from a process of auditory induction (Warren, 1984) or segregation, or whether it is an auditory illusion that accompanies the completion of an abstract phonological representation. Specifically, five experiments tested the prediction of the auditory induction (segregation) hypothesis that active perceptual restoration of an [s] noise that has been replaced with an extraneous noise would use up a portion of that noise’s high-frequency energy and consequently change the perceived pitch (timbre, brightness) of the extraneous noise. Listeners were required to compare the pitch of a target noise, which replaced a fricative noise in a sentence, with that of a probe noise preceding or following the speech. In the first two experiments, a significant tendency was found in favor of the auditory induction hypothesis, although the effect was small and may have been caused by variations in acoustic context. In the following three experiments, a larger variety of stimuli were used and context was controlled more carefully; this yielded negative results. Phoneme identification responses collected in the same experiments, as well as informal observations about the quality of the restored phoneme, suggested that restoration of a fricative phone distinct from the extraneous noise did not occur; rather, the spectrum of the extraneous noise itself influenced phoneme identification. These results suggest that the apparent auditory restoration which accompanies phonemic restoration is illusory, and that the schema-guided process of phoneme restoration does not interact with auditory processing.     

“Talk and social structure” and “studies of work”

This paper takes up the current discussion and disagreement among ethnomethodologists and conversation analysts concerning how conversation analysis should address questions of social structure. It also discusses the question of whether conversation analysis can address questions concerning the organisation of work as developed in the studies of work program of ethnomethodologists. Five different types of ethnomethodological and conversation analytic studies are delineated in order to show that, altough they differ in problem selection and formulation, methodological preference and foci, they are not incompatible but complementary.Presented at the meetings of the International Institute for Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis, Bentley College, August 1992.     

What makes words sound similar?

Although similarity plays an important role in accounts of language processing, there are surprisingly few direct empirical studies of the phonological similarity between words, and it is therefore not clear whether similarity comparisons between words involve processes similar to those involved in other cognitive domains. In five experiments, participants chose which of two monosyllabic pseudo-words sounded more similar to a target pseudo-word. Our results are generally consistent with the structural alignment theory of comparisons between complex mental representations, suggesting that phonological word similarity parallels similarity involving other kinds of information including visual objects and scenes, events, and word meanings. We use our results to test new metrics of word similarity, and identify predictions for future similarity research both in the domain of word sounds and in other cognitive domains.     

“Exclusive” and “Inclusive” Visions of Heroism and Democracy

Two contrasting visions of heroism and democracy have evolved side by side. An “exclusive” vision presents democracy as involving heroic leadership by exceptional individuals along with relatively limited volunteer participation by ordinary citizens. This “exclusive” vision has been supported by the personalization of politics, as well as the increased importance of elite leaders in an era of candidate-centered democracy. In contrast, an “inclusive” vision depicts heroism as integral to everyday life for ordinary people, and widespread volunteer participation in social life as normative in all democracies. In a study we conducted that involved a nationally representative sample of 4,000 adults in the United States, about a third reported considerable volunteering, and one out of five reported having carried out a heroic act. A detailed analysis of types of volunteering and heroism supports an inclusive vision of heroism and democracy. However, a number of trends associated with globalization and technology suggest increasing challenges to this inclusive vision.     

“Anxious” and “reckless” drivers

This paper presents personality profiles of two types of recidivist traffic offenders. One is the “anxious” traffic offender who imputes legitimacy to traffic norms, yet due to innate structural personality defects, he tends to enter into a state of anxiety, when confronted with risky traffic situations or a traffic jam. The other type is the “reckless” driver, who does not impute legitimacy to traffic norms nor to other legal norms. From this personality theory a number of hypotheses were derived and tested by means of multiple regression. Our ability to predict the number of traffic offenses suggests that similar tools may be used by the traffic authorities and traffic courts.     

Apache “Learners” and “Nonlearners”

While the Mescalero and Chiricahua Apaches of the Mescalero Indian Reservation aboriginally probably had very similar if not identical patterns of cognition and perception, present day aged members of those tribes have strikingly different patterns, demonstrable by clinical behavior and Rorschach responses. While in kindergarten, about half of the grandchildren and greatgrandchildren of those aged Mescaleros and Chiricahuas are unable to adjust themselves to the expectations of school teachers and are retained for a second year of kindergarten. Those children, here designated as nonlearners, are found to respond to Rorschach stimuli as do the aged Mescaleros with a high degree of statistical reliability.     

I know that “Kiki” is angular: The metacognition underlying sound–shape correspondences

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review - We examined the ability of people to evaluate their confidence when making perceptual judgments concerning a classic crossmodal correspondence, the Bouba/Kiki...     

“Transferring” and transference

This paper is part of my research into psychotic transference and is also related to the psychotic aspect of any adult or infantile patient in analysis. In my research, I studied the origin of the concept of transference in Charcot's time before Freud, and the transformation of this concept in psychoanalysis. Freud thought that psychotic patients were not able to establish a transference relationship, but some of his early papers show the opposite. In fact, Freud himself and then several other analysts were able to develop a personal experience regarding the possibility of contact and transferring feelings and delusional experiences in a therapeutic context – individual, group, or institution. I provide some clinical examples in this paper, as well as some theoretical, personal views regarding intrapersonal and interpersonal transference. Like Freud and Melanie Klein, I believe that transference starts with life, but that in psychoanalysis it has a particular meaning.     

“Assertion” and intentionality

Robert Stalnaker argues that his causal-pragmatic account of the problem of intentionality commits him to a coarse-grained conception of the contents of mental states, where propositions are represented as sets of possible worlds. Stalnaker also accepts the “direct reference” theory of names, according to which co-referring names have the same content. Stalnaker’s view of content is thus threatened by Frege’s Puzzle. Stalnaker’s classic paper “Assertion” is intended to provide a response to this threat. In this paper, I evaluate Stalnaker’s claim that the causal-pragmatic account of intentionality commits one to a coarse-grained conception of the contents of mental states, and argue that the apparatus laid out in “Assertion” is not sufficiently comprehensive to account for all versions of Frege’s Puzzle.     

Locke and “ad”

In IV, xvii, 19–22 of his Essay, Locke employs Latin labels for four kinds of argument, of which one (ad hominem) was already in circulation and one (ad judicium) has never had much currency. The present proposal seeks to locate and clarify what Locke was aiming to describe, and to contrast what he says with some subsequent uses that have been made of these labels as if they named fallacies. Though three of the four kinds of argument that Locke picks out are often less than decisive, he casts no aspersion on the legitimacy of their use in debate.

     

“Outside thinking” and “Horizontal logic”

Metaphysics is a repeated act by way of “representation”; the instantaneous judgment is solidified, the inevitable conclusion is made, and at the same time other possibilities are excluded. “Outside thinking” is a blow to the spiritual tradition of metaphysics, which holds that “representation” will lead to a differential activity concerning the relationship between stranger things. Such relationship follows a kind of “horizontal logic,” the latter discards the presupposition on the “origin” of things, that is, it no longer presumes that this point or that point has greater privilege than “other points.” Things do not develop from a central point. Rather, things are the result of innumerable “points” in cooperative relationships between strangers. These cooperative relationships are arbitrary. In “horizontal logic,” many “starting points” or “spiritual T-points” are used as substitutes for a unique “origin.”     

“Approach” and “avoidance” coping and PTSD symptoms in innercity youth

This study examined the function of approach and avoidant coping on the relations between exposure to violence and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. The sample included seventy African-American, inner-city children (ages eleven to fourteen). Tests of moderating effects investigated the mechanism of two avoidant coping strategies, cognitive distraction and behavioral avoidance. Cognitive distraction was found to moderate the level of violence exposure such that, as violence increased, the use of cognitive distraction was related to an increased frequency of cognitive arousal. Behavioral avoidance moderated violence such that, under higher exposure to violence, the lowered use of behavioral avoidance was related to an increased frequency of behavioral arousal. Tests of moderating effects examined the function of two approach strategies, problem-solving and social support. Neither strategy showed significant effects. This study provided a first-step in the examination of coping within inner-city children. Portions of this research were supported by a grant from the U. S. Department of Portions of this research were supported by a grant from the U. S. Department of Portions of this research were supported by a grant from the U. S. Department of     

Auditory processing and perceptual abilities of “organic” and “functional” stutterers

The present investigation was undertaken to determine whether significant differences in auditory processing and perceptual abilities exist between (1) stutterers as a supposedly homogeneous group when compared with controls, (2) two differentiated subgroups of stutterers, and (3) either of the stuttering subgroups when separately compared with controls. Dichotic listening and masking level difference (MLD) tasks were administered to the two groups of school-age stutterers and an age-matched nonstuttering control group. Stuttering subjects were differentiated into “organic” and “functional” subgroups on the basis of neuropsychological test performances. Organic stutterers performed significantly poorer than did controls on one MLD experimental condition. Functional stutterers performed more like control subjects than like organic stutterers.     

The dream between “here‐and‐now” and “there‐and‐then”

The analysand recounts his/her dream now, and here, in the setting. Though a dream may be recounted repeatedly, the human situation in which the recounting takes place is unrepeatable. Each moment of the analytic relationship is unique, and the recounting is essentially relational. Even if the dreamer were to read from a written text, his/her voice and non‐verbal aspects would render the communication unique. Not only the recounting but also the content recounted may present relational aspects, manifest or latent, but of a relational nature different from that of the session “here‐ and‐now”. The dream dreamt belongs to the “there‐and‐then”, and its analysis, like every analysis, implies an objectification. The analyst reacts to the recounted dream, trying to objectify it in its “there‐and‐then” and also inviting the dreamer to a common task. Working on the manifest content, free associations and interpretations of symbols, they voyage through the time and space of the analysand's life. The recounted dream involves the “here‐and‐now” of the session and asks to be meaningful as a cue in the analytic dialogue (what is the meaning of recounting this dream at this moment). At the same time it refers back to the dream dreamt, to a “there‐and‐then” which, if it is not to remain “an unopened letter”, must be received as an enigmatic challenge and a window on the unconscious, open and ready to close. Thinking of an opening of the dreamer's unconscious the analyst may find himself/herself faced with an opening of his/her own unconscious.