Thinking the voice: neural correlates of voice perception

The human voice is the carrier of speech, but also an "auditory face" that conveys important affective and identity information. Little is known about the neural bases of our abilities to perceive such paralinguistic information in voice. Results from recent neuroimaging studies suggest that the different types of vocal information could be processed in partially dissociated functional pathways, and support a neurocognitive model of voice perception largely similar to that proposed for face perception.     

Structure and function of auditory cortex: music and speech

We examine the evidence that speech and musical sounds exploit different acoustic cues: speech is highly dependent on rapidly changing broadband sounds, whereas tonal patterns tend to be slower, although small and precise changes in frequency are important. We argue that the auditory cortices in the two hemispheres are relatively specialized, such that temporal resolution is better in left auditory cortical areas and spectral resolution is better in right auditory cortical areas. We propose that cortical asymmetries might have developed as a general solution to the need to optimize processing of the acoustic environment in both temporal and frequency domains.     

Conditional reasoning and the Wason selection task: Biconditional interpretation instead of reasoning bias

Two experiments were conducted to show that the IF … THEN … rules used in the different versions of Wason's (1966 Wason, P. C. 1966. “Reasoning”. In New horizons in psychology I, Edited by: Foss, B. M. Harmondsworth, , UK: Penguin.  [Google Scholar]) selection task are not psychologically—though they are logically—equivalent. Some of these rules are considered by the participants as strict logical conditionals, whereas others are interpreted as expressing a biconditional relationship. A deductive task was used jointly with the selection task to show that the original abstract rule is quite ambiguous in this respect, contrary to deontic rules: the typical “error” made by most people may indeed be explained by the fact that they consider the abstract rule as a biconditional. Thus, there is no proper error or bias in the selection task as it is still argued, but a differential interpretation of the rule. The need for taking into account a pragmatic component in the process of reasoning is illustrated by the experiments.     

Speech Motor Skill and Stuttering

The authors review converging lines of evidence from behavioral, kinematic, and neuroimaging data that point to limitations in speech motor skills in people who stutter (PWS). From their review, they conclude that PWS differ from those who do not in terms of their ability to improve with practice and retain practiced changes in the long term, and that they are less efficient and less flexible in their adaptation to lower (motor) and higher (cognitive–linguistic) order requirements that impact on speech motor functions. These findings in general provide empirical support for the position that PWS may occupy the low end of the speech motor skill continuum as argued in the Speech Motor Skills approach (Van Lieshout, Hulstijn, & Peters, 2004).     

The therapeutic community in the local community: Social networks between therapeutic community and supported housing

In this paper, the authors present a model for therapeutic community programmes for those with severe and enduring mental ill health, based on social networks. These programmes have given birth to a range of therapeutic community which are, in fact, an innovative form of group psychotherapy. These new model do not depend on communal living. Some are groupings of apartments, others day units. Work schemes also feature here. And yet, as the authors outline, various components need to be present if these are to be considered genuine therapeutic communities and not just supported housing schemes. Additionally, a certain kind of training and clinical supervision is needed for the staff.     

The False Modesty of the Identity Theory of Truth

The identity theory of truth, according to which true thoughts are identical with facts, is very hard to formulate. It oscillates between substantive versions, which are implausible, and a merely truistic version, which is difficult to distinguish from deflationism about truth. This tension is present in the form of identity theory that one can attribute to McDowell from his views on perception, and in the conception defended by Hornsby under that name