Mechanisms Responsible for Differences in Perceived Duration for Rising-Intensity and Falling-Intensity Sounds

Sounds that are equivalent in all aspects except for their temporal envelope are perceived differently. Sounds with rising temporal envelopes are perceived as louder, longer, and show a greater change in loudness throughout their duration than sounds with falling temporal envelopes. Stecker and Hafter (2000) Stecker, G. C. and Hafter, E. R. 2000. An effect of temporal asymmetry on loudness. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 107: 3358–3368.  [Google Scholar] proposed that participants ignore the decay portion of sounds with falling temporal envelopes to account for observed loudness differences, but there is no empirical evidence support this hypothesis. To test this idea, two duration-matching experiments were performed. One experiment used broadband noise and the other natural stimuli. Different groups of participants were given different instruction sets asking them to (1) simply match the duration or (2) include all aspects of the sounds. Both experiments produced the same result. The first instruction set, which represented participants' natural biases, yielded shorter subjective durations for sounds with falling temporal envelopes than for sounds with rising temporal envelopes. By contrast, asking participants to include all aspects of the sounds significantly reduced the size of the asymmetry in subjective duration, a result that supports Stecker and Hafter's hypothesis. This segregation of the stimulus at the perceptual level is consistent with observed asymmetries in loudness change and overall loudness for sounds with rising and falling temporal envelopes, but it does not account for the entire effect. The remaining portion of the effect, after considering biases due to instructions, is not likely a result of adaptation but could be associated with persistence. The amount of persistence was inferred from behavioral masking data obtained for these sounds.     

A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF INTERACTIVE EFFECTS BETWEEN COMMON CLASSROOM CONTINGENCIES AND METHYLPHENIDATE

To assess the drug—behavior interaction effects with an 8-year-old boy with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, common classroom antecedent (e.g., seating arrangement) and consequent (e.g., peer prompts) stimuli were alternated within a school day while drug conditions (methylphenidate vs. placebo) were alternated across days. The results suggested that peer attention maintained disruptive behavior when methylphenidate was absent but not when it was present.     

Cross-Sectional Age Analysis of Sleep Problems in 2 to 17 Year Olds with ADHD Combined,ADHD Inattentive,or Autism

Sleep problems are common in autism and ADHD. No study has compared sleep problems by age in 2 to 17 year olds with autism versus ADHD-Combined versus ADHD-Inattentive type. Mothers rated 1415 youth with autism and 1041 with ADHD on 10 Pediatric Behavior Scale sleep items. Nighttime sleep problems were most severe in autism, followed by ADHD-Combined, and then ADHD-Inattentive. Difficulty falling asleep, restless during sleep, and waking during the night were the most common problems. Adolescents slept more at night than other age groups, and youth who slept more at night were sleepier during the day. Sleep problems declined with age, but correlations were small. In adolescence, 63% with autism, 53% with ADHD-Combined, and 57% with ADHD-Inattentive had difficulty falling asleep. Given that the majority of children in all age groups had one or more sleep problem, developmentally appropriate interventions are needed to address sleep difficulties and limit their adverse effects.

     

Dominance of persistence over adaptation in forward masking

Persistence of excitation and neural adaptation are competing theories proposed to explain the mechanisms underlying psychophysical forward masking. Previous research has been directed towards finding models that accurately describe the phenomenon but cannot account for the underlying explanation. The current study was designed to determine which theory best accounts for results obtained from behavioral gap duration adjustment tasks. Thirteen adults adjusted the gap within asymmetrical noise markers to be subjectively equal to the gap within equal-intensity-noise markers. The duration of the perceived gap between the asymmetrical markers is expected to vary depending on which theory dominates perception. The persistence of excitation mechanism would lead to longer duration gaps when the second noise marker is lower in intensity than the preceding. Neural adaptation would result in matched gaps that are shorter in duration when the second noise marker was lower in level. The outcome of our data analysis is consistent with the persistence of excitation as a dominant mechanism in forward masking.     

Associations between power,stress, and dominance in romantic relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic: Examining curvilinear and within-person effects

Two key processes in romantic relationships—power and dominance—can contribute to relationship disruption, but the association between these variables is complex. Elucidating the association between power and dominance during the COVID-19 pandemic is particularly important given the economic, social, and health-related stressors that pose a risk to relationship health. We examined associations between power, stress, and dominance by recruiting 1813 participants to complete an initial online survey at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were contacted 10 and 22 months later to complete follow-up surveys. Results revealed two main effects: individuals who had greater relationship power and experienced more COVID-19-related stressors than other people engaged in more dominance behaviors. A significant curvilinear effect revealed that at low levels of power, power was not associated with dominance behaviors. However, once power surpassed low levels, individuals with more power engaged in more dominance behaviors. Finally, people engaged in more dominance behaviors when they experienced more power and stress compared to their own average (i.e., within-person effects) during the pandemic. Implications for theories of power, dominance, and relationship disruption and distress are discussed.