When acoustic sequences are not perceptual sequences: The global perception of auditory patterns

Warren, Bashford, and Gardner (1990) found that when sequences consisting of 10 40-msec steady-state vowels were presented in recycled format, minimal changes in order (interchanging the position of two adjacent phonemes) produced easily recognizable differences in verbal organization, even though the vowel durations were well below the threshold for identification of order. The present study was designed to determine if this ability to discriminate between different arrangements of components is limited to speech sounds subject to verbal organization, or if it reflects a more general auditory ability. In the first experiment. 10 40-msec sinusoidal tones were substituted for the vowels; it was found that the easy discrimination of minimal changea in order is not limited to speech sounds. A second experiment substituted 10 40-msec frozen noise segments for the vowels. The succession of noise segments formed a 400-msec frozen noise pattern that cannot be considered as a sequence of individual sounds, as can the succession of vowels or tones. Nevertheless, listeners again could discriminate between patterns differing.only in the order of two adjacent 40-msec segments. These results, together with other evidence, indicate that it is not necessary foracoustic sequences of brief items (such as phonemes and tones) to be processed asperceptual sequences (that is, as a succession of discrete identifiable sounds) for different arrangements to be discriminated. Instead, component acoustic elements form distinctive “temporal compounds,” which permit listeners to distinguish between different arrangements of portions of an acoustic pattern without the need for segmentation into an ordered series of component items. Implications for models dealing with the recognition of speech and music are discussed.     

Archive Fever: ‘Order is no longer assured’

Abstract

This article uses a close reading of Jacques Derrida’s short work Archive fever: A Freudian impression (1996), in order to show the structural impossibility for law and the wider legal system to protect itself from the destabilising effects of deconstruction. It shows law’s inability to stabilise/close the system and hence its inability to ‘assure order’.     

The missing fundamental in vowel height perception

Traunmüller (1981) suggested that the tonotopic distance between the first formant (F ₁) and the fundamental frequency (F ₀) is a major determinant of perceived vowel height. In the present study, subjects identified a vowel-height continuum ranging in formant pattern from /?/ to /ε/, at fiveF ₀ values. IncreasingF ₀ led to an increased probability of /I/ responses (i.e., the phoneme boundary shifted toward the /ε/ end of the continuum). Various conditions of filtering out the lower harmonics of the stimuli caused only marginal shifts of the phoneme boundary. The experiments provide evidence against interpretations of Traunmüller’s (1981) results that claim that vowel height is determined by the distance betweenF ₁ and the lowest harmonic that is present in the basilar membrane excitation pattern.     

When attractiveness demands longer looks: The effects of situation and gender

We investigated how aesthetics guides our exploration of the environment. We embedded attractive and nonattractive faces into complex, real-world scenes and measured eye movements during scene viewing. We examined whether attractive faces would elicit longer looks, which would suggest that the aesthetic response orients people toward the rewarding and pleasing aspects of the environment. Experiment 1 showed that mean fixation, mean first fixation, and total fixation durations were longer to attractive faces, and fixations were longest to female faces and by female perceivers. In Experiment 2, we examined whether these effects of attractiveness are sensitive to situational factors. When perceivers were subjected to a threat or social approach manipulation prior to viewing the scenes, we confirmed specific hypotheses concerning the two manipulations. In accordance with the hypothesis that males have higher aggression potential than females, there were no differences in fixation durations between attractive and nonattractive male faces in the threat condition. On the other hand, in the social approach condition, both female and male attractive faces received longer looks. These results suggest that the aesthetic response orients people not only to the pleasing aspects of their environment, but also to those features that are adaptively relevant.     

Assessing tactile perception: effects of different visual barriers on performance

Blindfolding candidates when testing their tactile performance may increase their anxiety. This study examined whether different visual barriers would influence tactile performance on timed tasks. It was hypothesised that candidates using a blindfold would be more anxious, but that they would benefit by the potentially positive effects of arousal on performance and not differ from candidates using a screen to limit visual access to task material. 200 participants (ages 19 to 30 years), randomly assigned to the two conditions, completed a tactile perception task, as well as an anxiety scale. In contrast to the expected outcome, the screen sample took significantly longer to complete the task. This was hypothesised to be the result of increased distraction given competing cross-modal attentional demands and the consequent visual and tactile attention switching. Practitioners may need to consider the influences of visual interference when assessing tactile performance.     

Adults' perception of children's height and reaching capability

This study investigated the influence of some characteristics of the task, the model, and the observer, in the estimation errors of adults while judging children's affordances. One hundred and eighteen adults, divided in 4 height groups, estimated height and vertical reaching capability of 3 girls (3.55-, 4.74- and 7.06-years old), in the presence and in the absence of the model. Constant errors (CE) (estimation-real value), absolute percent errors (APE) (|1 − estimation/real value| × 100), and error tendency (underestimations, right judgments, or overestimations) were calculated. A model and a condition effect were verified on APE. APE for the younger model were greater than for the other models (p < 0.001), and APE in the absence of the model were greater than in her presence (p < 0.05). Generally, adults underestimated height (51.8% of underestimations vs. 32.3% of overestimations) and overestimated reachability (51.3% of overestimations vs. 37.7% of underestimations). The overestimation of reachability was more notorious for the younger model, which might reflect adults' difficulty to consider the specificity of younger children's body proportions. Actually, the overestimation bias may suggest that adults perceive young children as on the basis of adult's geometrical proportions.     

"When no means no": can reactance augment the theory of planned behavior?

A longitudinal study examined women's clinic attendance for treatment and follow-up after having received an abnormal cervical screening result. Participants (N = 660) completed questionnaire measures of variables specified by the theory of planned behavior and J. Kuhl's (2000) measure of low volitional control--reactance--prior to receiving up to 3 subsequent appointments during the following 15 months. The theory of planned behavior was capable of predicting persistent attendance and discriminated women who kept all of their scheduled appointments from those who dropped out from treatment. Consideration of reactance enhanced prediction of behavior and discriminated between women who delayed appointment keeping and women who ceased attending.     

When believing is seeing: The role of predictions in shaping visual perception

The study investigated the influence of predictions on perception—in particular, how strong but erroneous prediction coupled with poor sensory data can trigger misperceptions. Using signal detection, we tested whether predictions induced by a semantic cue change the recognition threshold (criterion) or the subjectively perceived differences between stimuli (sensitivity). In a series of 3 experiments, participants observed pictures of (a) real objects distorted to various extents (targets), (b) noise with elements corresponding to meaningful objects (foils), or (c) nonsense images (noise). Stimuli were preceded either by a semantic cue or by a blank screen with equal probability. Presence of the cue resulted in a more liberal criterion, but only for targets and foils. The cue decreased sensitivity between the distorted targets, but increased sensitivity between the targets and noise—that is, the cue increased between-class differences, but decreased within-class differences. When there was no correspondence between prediction and the sensory input, prediction actually increased the chances of correctly rejecting noise. The influence of the cue was strongest for the moderately distorted targets and foils—when uncertainty related to the bottom-up input was the highest.     

When confessional walls have ears: The changing clergy privileged communications law

Both recent court decisions and state laws have changed the ethic of confidentiality between clergy and those they serve. Clergy and their church members and clients need to know the limitations upon their private communications. While each state determines the law of privileged communications, the author outlines the general requirements of the privilege. A state-by-state chart is included that references each clergy privilege law and some of the language that limits the privilege.     

When believing is seeing: the role of predictions in shaping visual perception

The study investigated the influence of predictions on perception-in particular, how strong but erroneous prediction coupled with poor sensory data can trigger misperceptions. Using signal detection, we tested whether predictions induced by a semantic cue change the recognition threshold (criterion) or the subjectively perceived differences between stimuli (sensitivity). In a series of 3 experiments, participants observed pictures of (a) real objects distorted to various extents (targets), (b) noise with elements corresponding to meaningful objects (foils), or (c) nonsense images (noise). Stimuli were preceded either by a semantic cue or by a blank screen with equal probability. Presence of the cue resulted in a more liberal criterion, but only for targets and foils. The cue decreased sensitivity between the distorted targets, but increased sensitivity between the targets and noise-that is, the cue increased between-class differences, but decreased within-class differences. When there was no correspondence between prediction and the sensory input, prediction actually increased the chances of correctly rejecting noise. The influence of the cue was strongest for the moderately distorted targets and foils-when uncertainty related to the bottom-up input was the highest.     

When texture takes precedence over motion in depth perception

Both texture and motion can be strong cues to depth, and estimating slant from texture cues can be considered analogous to calculating slant from motion parallax (Malik and Rosenholtz 1994, report UCB/CSD 93/775, University of California, Berkeley, CA). A series of experiments was conducted to determine the relative weight of texture and motion cues in the perception of planar-surface slant when both texture and motion convey similar information. Stimuli were monocularly viewed images of planar surfaces slanted in depth, defined by texture and motion information that could be varied independently. Slant discrimination biases and thresholds were measured by a method of single-stimuli binary-choice procedure. When the motion and texture cues depicted surfaces of identical slants, it was found that the depth-from-motion information neither reduced slant discrimination thresholds, nor altered slant discrimination bias, compared to texture cues presented alone. When there was a difference in the slant depicted by motion and by texture, perceived slant was determined almost entirely by the texture cue. The regularity of the texture pattern did not affect this weighting. Results are discussed in terms of models of cue combination and previous results with different types of texture and motion information.     

Festering boils and screaming canvases: Culture,contagion and why place no longer matters

This paper is a ficto-critical account of the relationship between boils – Staphylococcus aureus – and Central Desert art. It develops an analysis of the ontogenetic relationship between art and disease through the specific aetiology of contemporary manifestations of Staphylococcus. What Warlpiri call Winjini (boils) are found to bear a linguistic and visual relationship with traditional marks, and mark-making, which is more than a simple matter of likeness, metaphor or analogy. Through an account of one ethnographer's narrative of her own, and her family's, contraction of Winjini, a very different understanding of both Staphylococcus, and the productive work of Central Desert art, emerges.     

When categories collide: accumulation of information about multiple categories in rapid scene perception

Experiments have shown that people can rapidly determine if categories such as "animal" or "beach" are present in scenes that are presented for only a few milliseconds. Typically, observers in these experiments report on one prespecified category. For the first time, we show that observers can rapidly extract information about multiple categories. Moreover, we demonstrate task-dependent interactions between accumulating information about different categories in a scene. This interaction can be constructive or destructive, depending on whether the presence of one category can be taken as evidence for or against the presence of the other.     

When complexity helps: an electrophysiological analysis of multiple feature benefits in object perception

Fournier, L. R., Eriksen, C. W. and Bowd, C. (1998. Multiple feature discrimination faster than single feature discrimination within the same object? Perception & Psychophysics 60, 1384-1405) found that judging the presence of multiple features within an object is faster than judging the presence of the least discriminable of these features alone (multiple feature benefits, MFBs). When an 'absent' response is required, responses are slower when some of the relevant (target) features are present (multiple feature costs, MFCs). The present study utilized psychophysiological measures (of the event-related brain potential and the electromyogram) to determine the contributions of response priming and stimulus evaluation processes (P300 latency) to these effects. P300 latency and reaction time (RT) both showed evidence of MFBs and MFCs. These findings suggest that MFBs and MFCs can be attributed to processing that occurs prior to response selection. No dissociations between P300 latency and RT measures were found for 'present' responses across the single and multiple feature judgements. However, for 'absent' responses, partial dissociations were found between these measures, and partial errors and longer response execution intervals were observed more often when an object contained some target features. These findings suggest that response priming contributes to MFCs, but may not contribute to MFBs.