Perceptual learning of noise vocoded words: effects of feedback and lexicality

Speech comprehension is resistant to acoustic distortion in the input, reflecting listeners' ability to adjust perceptual processes to match the speech input. This adjustment is reflected in improved comprehension of distorted speech with experience. For noise vocoding, a manipulation that removes spectral detail from speech, listeners' word report showed a significantly greater improvement over trials for listeners that heard clear speech presentations before rather than after hearing distorted speech (clear-then-distorted compared with distorted-then-clear feedback, in Experiment 1). This perceptual learning generalized to untrained words suggesting a sublexical locus for learning and was equivalent for word and nonword training stimuli (Experiment 2). These findings point to the crucial involvement of phonological short-term memory and top-down processes in the perceptual learning of noise-vocoded speech. Similar processes may facilitate comprehension of speech in an unfamiliar accent or following cochlear implantation.     

Children's false memories: easier to elicit for a negative than for a neutral event

The present study examined the role of valence in the development of children's implanted false memories. Seventy-six 7-year-old children listened to two true and one false narrative. The false narrative was either neutral ("moving to another classroom") or emotional negative ("being accused by the teacher for copying off your neighbor"). In addition, half of the children were presented with their class photograph while listening to the narratives. During two interviews, children recalled as many details as possible from the true and false events. Results showed that the negative event elicited more false memories than the neutral event. The presentation of a true photograph did not promote the development of false memories.     

Visual attention and the mechanism of metacontrast

The U-shaped metacontrast function may result from the superimposition of two monotonic components which reflect the effects of mechanisms similar to the peripheral and central processes suggested for backward pattern masking by Turvey (Psychol Rev 80:1–52, 1973). In an experiment using the disc-ring paradigm, it was demonstrated that the decreasing and increasing branches of the metacontrast function are differently affected by the exposure duration of the mask and a task-irrelevant stimulus (distractor) appearing in the contralateral visual hemifield. The phenomenal representation of masking is different for the two parts of the curve. It is suggested that masking in the second part of the masking function, but not in the first, is related to the control of visual attention.     

Experiments on the Fehrer–Raab effect and the ‘Weather Station Model’ of visual backward masking

The Fehrer–Raab effect (simple reaction time is unaffected by metacontrast masking of the test stimulus) seems to imply that a stimulus can trigger a voluntary reaction without reaching a conscious representation. However, it is also possible that the mask triggers the reaction, and that the masked test stimulus causes a focussing of attention from which processing of the mask profits, thus reaching conscious representation earlier. This is predicted by the Weather Station Model of visual masking. Three experiments tested this explanation. Experiment 1 showed that the masked test stimulus caused a temporal shift of the mask. Experiment 2 showed that the reaction in the Fehrer–Raab effect was not exclusively triggered by a conscious representation of the test stimulus: the mask was involved in evoking the reaction. Experiment 3 again revealed a temporal shift of the mask. However, the shift was only about half as large as the Fehrer–Raab effect. The psychometric functions suggested that the observers used two different cues for their temporal order judgments. The results cast doubts on whether judged temporal order yields a direct estimate of the time of conscious perception. Some methodological alternatives are discussed.     

The spatial distribution of attention in perceptual latency priming

The spatial distribution of visual attention is a yet unresolved question. One of the main topics is whether attention is distributed in a graded fashion around an attended location (e.g., Downing, 1988; Zimba & Hughes, 1987). The present experiments explore whether, and on which conditions, gradients of attention arise and contribute to perceptual facilitation. A masked or unmasked prime precedes one of two targets whose temporal order has to be judged. The prime captures attention, which shortens the perceptual latency of the primed target (perceptual latency priming; Scharlau & Neumann, 2003a; Shore, Spence, & Klein, 2001). No strong evidence for an attentional gradient was found. (1) Accuracy of temporal order judgements was independent of the distance between the two targets that were judged. That is, facilitation of the second target by the first target was spatially invariant. (2) With targets of short duration, facilitation was independent of prime-target distance. (3) With targets of long duration, gradients were found: Facilitation declined continuously with distance. Thus, long duration of stimuli may be a sufficient precondition for an attentional gradient. A control experiment showed that object-based attention contributes only marginally to perceptual latency priming.     

Montaigne: The Embodiment of Identity as Grounds for Toleration

Res Publica - One of the most important issues today is the conflict between identity groups. Can the concept of toleration provide resources for thinking about this? The standard definition of...     

Disgust and psychopathological symptoms in a nonclinical sample

There is little doubt that disgust sensitivity plays a role in the development of small animal phobias. However, it has been suggested that the basic emotion of disgust is implied in a broad range of psychopathological conditions. The present study examined the relationship between disgust sensitivity and symptoms of phobias (other than animal phobias), obsessive–compulsive disorder, depression, and eating disorder in a nonclinical sample. Undergraduate psychology students were asked to complete the Disgust Sensitivity Questionnaire, as well as measures of phobic (Fear Questionnaire), obsessive–compulsive (Maudsley Obsessive–Compulsive Inventory), depressive (Beck Depression Inventory), and eating disorder (Restraint Scale) symptomatology. Results showed that disgust sensitivity was only related to symptoms of agoraphobia and obsessive–compulsive disorder. The present findings cast doubts on the idea that disgust sensitivity is a central factor underlying a broad range of psychopathological conditions.     

Independently Licensed Counselors' Work Values

Prospective clinical mental health counseling students need to know if their work values align with those of independently licensed counselors before investing their time and accumulating debt. Analyzing the work values of 463 independently licensed counselors in the United States, we found 89% expressing social (altruistic) work values and 22% expressing intrinsic work values. Independently licensed counselors want to help clients become fully functioning and self-actualized by maintaining unconditional positive regard, being congruent, and providing empathy. Clarifying these work values and their interaction can help prospective and current clinical mental health counseling students determine their future job role.     

Maternal Role Confusion: Relations to Maternal Attachment and Mother–Child Interaction from Infancy to Adolescence

Self‐reports of role confusion with the parent in childhood are associated with a variety of adverse outcomes. However, role‐confusion has been studied primarily from the point of view of the child. The current study evaluated an instrument for assessing role confusion from maternal interviews rather than from child observations or self‐reports in adulthood. Fifty‐one mothers participating in a longitudinal study since their own child's infancy were administered the Experiences of Caregiving Interview (C. George & J. Solomon, 1996) when the child was age 20. Interviews were coded using the newly developed Parental Assessment of Role Confusion (PARC; L. Vulliez‐Coady & K. Lyons‐Ruth, 2009). Maternal PARC scores were related to observational measures of role‐confusion in interaction with the child both in infancy and late adolescence. PARC scores also were related to mothers’ hostile‐helpless states of mind on the Adult Attachment Interview (C. George, N. Kaplan, & M. Main, 1984, 1985, 1986) and to the extent of Unresolved loss, but not Unresolved Trauma. PARC scores also were related to mothers’ self‐reports of helplessness experienced in the parenting role. Discriminant validity of the PARC was demonstrated in that role confusion on the PARC was not related to hostile or disoriented forms of parent–child interaction. Implications for clinical assessment of role confusion are discussed.