Nomnetric scaling of loudness and pitch using similarity and difference estimates

In Experiment 1, nonmetric analyses of estimates of similarity and difference were used to generate a scale of loudness for 1,200-Hz tones varying in intensity. For both similarity and difference estimates, loudness was found to grow approximately as the 0.26 power of sound pressure. In Experiment 2, nomnetric analyses of estimates of similarity and difference were used to generate a scale of pitch for 83.3-dB pure tones varying in frequency. For both similarity and difference estimates, pitch was found to vary with frequency in accordance with the mel scale.     

Effects of range on category scaling of loudness judgments

In two experiments subjects judged the loudness of a 1000-Hz tone within a range of three loudnesses. The first used a within-subjects design with ranges of 1-2 sones, 1-4 sones, and 1-8 sones. The second used a between-subjects design with ranges of 1-2 sones, 1-8 sones, and 1-16 sones. Except for two values in the 1- to 2-sone range the two experiments produced comparable results. As range was increased the tendency to round away from the end points increased and the judged mid-point occurred at a higher value. Comparisons are made with rounding patterns that occur in studies of linear scales. The present results are interpreted to support Poulton's (1975) position, that the mid-point of subjective estimates depends on the range of stimuli judged, rather than that of Stevens (1975), that the mid-point on a prosthetic scale is assigned to a value that is lower than the mid-point on the subject's subjective scale.     

Response bias in category and magnitude estimation of difference and similarity for loudness and pitch

Interval scales of sensory magnitude were derived from magnitude and category estimates of loudness differences, loudness similarities, pitch differences, and pitch similarities. In each of the four loudness experiments, a loudness scale was constructed from a nonmetric analysis of the rank order of the judgments. The four loudness scales so constructed were found to be equivalent to one another and indicated that loudness was a power function of sound pressure with an exponent of .29. A similar analysis for the four pitch experiments found the pitch scales derived in each case to be equivalent to one another and linear with the mel scale of pitch. Thus the same sensory and similarities for two distinct perceptual continua. For both pitch and loudness, these sensory scales were used to generate scales of sensory differences. A comparison of the category and magnitude estimates of sensory differences with the scale of sensory differences derived from the nonmetric analyses indicated the presence of significant response biases in both category and magnitude estimation procedures.     

Induced loudness reduction as a function of frequency difference between test tone and inducer

When a high-intensity tone (inducer) is followed by a moderate-intensity tone (test tone), the loudness of the latter is reduced. This phenomenon, called induced loudness reduction (ILR), depends on the frequency separation of the two tones; as the difference in frequency increases, the amount of ILR decreases. However, the precise course of this decrease is not well known. This article presents two experiments that address this question. In the first experiment, the amount of loudness reduction produced by a 2.5-kHz 80-dB-SPL inducer was measured with the frequency of the test tone swept from 800 Hz to 6 kHz. In the second experiment, the amount of ILR was measured with the same inducer and with test tones set at 2, 2.5, 3, and 4 kHz. Both experiments show that some ILR occurs at frequency separations as wide as four critical bands.     

Effects of syntactic expectations on speech segmentation

Although the effect of acoustic cues on speech segmentation has been extensively investigated, the role of higher order information (e.g., syntax) has received less attention. Here, the authors examined whether syntactic expectations based on subject-verb agreement have an effect on segmentation and whether they do so despite conflicting acoustic cues. Although participants detected target words faster in phrases containing adequate acoustic cues ("spins" in take spins and "pins" in takes pins), this acoustic effect was suppressed when the phrases were appended to a plural context (those women take spins/*takes pins [with the asterisk indicating a syntactically unacceptable parse]). The syntactically congruent target ("spins") was detected faster regardless of the acoustics. However, a singular context (that woman *take spins/takes pins) had no effect on segmentation, and the results resembled those of the neutral phrases. Subsequent experiments showed that the discrepancy was due to the relative time course of syntactic expectations and acoustics cues. Taken together, the data suggest that syntactic knowledge can facilitate segmentation but that its effect is substantially attenuated if conflicting acoustic cues are encountered before full realization of the syntactic constraint.     

Effects and aftereffects of stressor expectations

Is stressor exposure necessary to produce "stress" effects, or can these effects result from stressor anticipation alone? The present research explores whether it is possible to obtain "stress responses" during and after the period in which stressor exposure is being anticipated. In the first study, the expectation of submerging one's hand in ice water resulted in decreased frustration tolerance and increased blood pressure when compared with control groups not expecting this stressor. A second study replicated and extended these results to show that the expectation of control over the stressor ameliorates the negative impact of stressor expectation. The second study also examined the aftereffects of expectations. Particularly, it found that despite being relieved of the expectation that they would immerse their hand in ice water, subjects who had expected stressor exposure had decreased frustration tolerance when compared with either subjects who had expected a nonstressful procedure or those who had expected to have control over stressor termination. A third study, using noise as the expected stressor, replicated both the aftereffect of the anticipation period and the moderation of that effect by perceived control. The discussion (a) focuses on the implications of this work for understanding why aftereffects occur and (b) proposes that previously observed stressor exposure effects may in fact be postexpectation effects.     

Individual differences in loudness processing and loudness scales

Parameters of the psychophysical function for loudness (a 1000-Hz tone) were assessed for individual subjects in three experiments: (a) binaural loudness summation, (b) temporal loudness summation, and (c) judgments of loudness intervals. The loudness scales that underlay the additive binaural summation closely approximated S. S. Stevens's (1956) sone scale but were nonlinearly related to the scales that underlay the subtractive interval judgments, the latter approximating Garner's (1954) lambda scale. Interindividual differences in temporal summation were unrelated to differences in scaling performance or in binaural summation. Although the exponents of magnitude-estimation functions and the exponents underlying interval judgments varied considerably from subject to subject, exponents computed on the basis of underlying binaural summation varied less. The results suggest that interindividual variation in the exponent of magnitude-estimation functions largely reflects differences in the ways that subjects use numbers to describe loudnesses and that the sensory representations of loudness are fairly uniform, though probably not wholly uniform, among people with normal hearing. The magnitude of individual variation in at least one measure of auditory intensity processing, namely, temporal summation, seems at least as great as the magnitude of the variation in the underlying loudness scale.     

Predicting cross-sex first-date sexual expectations and involvement: Contextual and individual difference factors

This study investigates how individual difference variables (gender and self-monitoring) and contextual factors (gender of the date-initiator and alcohol consumption) influence sexual expectations for, and sexual involvement on, a first date. College students reported on their most recent male- or female-initiated first date. Alcohol and gender were the strongest determinants of both sexual expectations and involvement. Binge drinkers engaged in more sexual involvement than did nonbinge drinkers who, in turn, engaged in greater sexual involvement than nondrinkers. Men reported more intimate sexual expectations and involvement than women. Individual difference and contextual variables explained more of the variance in males' (when compared to females') sexual expectations and involvement.     

Effects of expectations about evaluation and peer recommendations on students' ratings

Previous research on consumer satisfaction suggests that the anticipation of providing a later evaluation leads to more negative appraisals. Within the context of higher education, the current experiment focused on the evaluation of a presentation and its presenter. College students (35 men, 59 women) were randomly assigned to six conditions regarding evaluative expectations and peer recommendations. Students watched a brief video of a lecture on an educational topic and then evaluated the speaker and presentation. Anticipation of providing evaluations did not influence the subsequent evaluations; however, peers' positive recommendations led to more positive evaluations whereas negative recommendations led to more negative evaluations.     

Bisection of loudness

In a loudness bisection task, subjects varied one sound to lie halfway between two given sounds in terms of loudness. The two given sounds were varied from 30 to 90 dB in a 4 by 9 factorial design. Functional measurement methods based on monotone analysis provided good support for the bisection model, and yielded a loudness scale with an exponent of about .3, except for a falloff at lower intensities. Two other tasks, judging average loudness and difference in loudness of the two given sounds, yielded mixed results. In Experiment 2, in particular, the differencing judgments were not additive, even under monotone transformation. These analyses also indicated that previous applications of monotone analysis have typically lacked adequate power to allow any conclusion about the operative model. Overall, the present bisection scale agrees with Garner’s lambda scale, and the present theoretical approach agrees with that of Garner in its emphasis on algebraic models as a foundation for psychological measurement.     

Loudness and loudness discrimination

A model is developed which holds that pure-tone intensity discrimination and suprathreshold loudness judgments are based on the same sensory representation. In this model, loudness is a power function of sound intensity. When two tones are presented sequentially, each gives rise to a loudness value along the sensory continuum. In intensity-discrimination experiments, threshold is reached when the loudness difference between the tones exceeds a criterial value. For suprathreshold presentations of tone pairs, judgments of loudness differences are based on the loudness difference between the two tones. The model is shown to accord well with data from both classes of experiments.     

Individual loudness functions determined from direct comparisons of loudness intervals

Five subjects were required in each trial to directly compare two pairs of tones and indicate which pair of tones had the greater loudness difference. Ten 1,200-Hz tones differing only in intensity were employed. Subjects made binary comparisons among the 45 tone pairs that can be formed from these 10 tones. The loudness difference comparisons of each subject were found to satisfy two properties (transitivity and monotonicity) that are required for an interval scale representation of loudness. Therefore, individual loudness scales were constructed using a nonmetric scaling technique designed for comparisons of sensory intervals. These loudness scales differed significantly from subject to subject. Since a nonnumerical scaling procedure was employed, these individual differences could not be attributed to biases in the way in which observers use numbers or numerical concepts to describe the loudness of tones. Hence, they suggest strong individual differences in the coding of sound intensity.     

Continuous judgment of level-fluctuating sounds and the relationship between overall loudness and instantaneous loudness

Summary The present investigation was designed to examine the most appropriate duration of instantaneous loudness and to find out the relationship between overall loudness and instantaneous loudness using 20-min road traffic noise. Instantaneous loudness was judged using the method of continuous judgment by category. The results suggest that instantaneous loudness is determined by the sound energy averaged during the 2.5-s period preceding each judgment, the duration of which seems to reflect the psychological present. It was also found that overall loudess is not an average of the instantaneous loudness of every moment, but that it is based on the instantaneous loudness above a certain level.     

Effects of religious denomination on sex differences in occupational expectations

The degree of difference between men and women in occupational expectations and attitude toward careers for married women are related to the degree of discrimination against women in religious denominations. Occupational expectations are scored along the dimension of masculinity. Discrimination against women is indicated by extent and timing of the ordination of women within the denominations for which subjects indicated a preference. Data are a subselection of 12,018 cases from a national sample of 189,733 first-time full-time entering college freshmen. The difference between women and men in masculinity of occupational choice and agreement with the attitude “Activities of married women are best confined to the home and family” are positively related to denominational discrimination against women.