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Developmental Science Jun 2024Infants begin to segment word forms from fluent speech-a crucial task in lexical processing-between 4 and 7 months of age. Prior work has established that infants rely...
Infants begin to segment word forms from fluent speech-a crucial task in lexical processing-between 4 and 7 months of age. Prior work has established that infants rely on a variety of cues available in the speech signal (i.e., prosodic, statistical, acoustic-segmental, and lexical) to accomplish this task. In two experiments with French-learning 6- and 10-month-olds, we use a psychoacoustic approach to examine if and how degradation of the two fundamental acoustic components extracted from speech by the auditory system, namely, temporal (both frequency and amplitude modulation) and spectral information, impact word form segmentation. Infants were familiarized with passages containing target words, in which frequency modulation (FM) information was replaced with pure tones using a vocoder, while amplitude modulation (AM) was preserved in either 8 or 16 spectral bands. Infants were then tested on their recognition of the target versus novel control words. While the 6-month-olds were unable to segment in either condition, the 10-month-olds succeeded, although only in the 16 spectral band condition. These findings suggest that 6-month-olds need FM temporal cues for speech segmentation while 10-month-olds do not, although they need the AM cues to be presented in enough spectral bands (i.e., 16). This developmental change observed in infants' sensitivity to spectrotemporal cues likely results from an increase in the range of available segmentation procedures, and/or shift from a vowel to a consonant bias in lexical processing between the two ages, as vowels are more affected by our acoustic manipulations. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Although segmenting speech into word forms is crucial for lexical acquisition, the acoustic information that infants' auditory system extracts to process continuous speech remains unknown. We examined infants' sensitivity to spectrotemporal cues in speech segmentation using vocoded speech, and revealed a developmental change between 6 and 10 months of age. We showed that FM information, that is, the fast temporal modulations of speech, is necessary for 6- but not 10-month-old infants to segment word forms. Moreover, reducing the number of spectral bands impacts 10-month-olds' segmentation abilities, who succeed when 16 bands are preserved, but fail with 8 bands.
PubMed: 38853379
DOI: 10.1111/desc.13533 -
Physics of Life Reviews Mar 2024
Interpersonal synchrony implies simultaneity, musical improvisation requires rules. Comment on "Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose interpretability" by Tal-Chen Rabinowitch.
Topics: Music; Creativity
PubMed: 38160521
DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2023.12.007 -
Annals of Physical and Rehabilitation... Oct 2023
Topics: Humans; COVID-19; Multiple Sclerosis; Pandemics; Exercise; Quality of Life
PubMed: 37967488
DOI: 10.1016/j.rehab.2023.101798 -
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and... Dec 2023In developing virtual acoustic environments, it is important to understand the relationship between the computation cost and the perceptual significance of the resultant...
In developing virtual acoustic environments, it is important to understand the relationship between the computation cost and the perceptual significance of the resultant numerical error. In this article, we propose a quality criterion that evaluates the error significance of path-tracing-based sound propagation simulators. We present an analytical formula that estimates the error signal power spectrum. With this spectrum estimation, we can use a modified Zwicker's loudness model to calculate the relative loudness of the error signal masked by the ideal output. Our experimental results show that the proposed criterion can explain the human perception of simulation error in a variety of cases.
PubMed: 36219658
DOI: 10.1109/TVCG.2022.3213514 -
Journal of Comparative Physiology. A,... May 2024Auditory streaming underlies a receiver's ability to organize complex mixtures of auditory input into distinct perceptual "streams" that represent different sound...
Auditory streaming underlies a receiver's ability to organize complex mixtures of auditory input into distinct perceptual "streams" that represent different sound sources in the environment. During auditory streaming, sounds produced by the same source are integrated through time into a single, coherent auditory stream that is perceptually segregated from other concurrent sounds. Based on human psychoacoustic studies, one hypothesis regarding auditory streaming is that any sufficiently salient perceptual difference may lead to stream segregation. Here, we used the eastern grey treefrog, Hyla versicolor, to test this hypothesis in the context of vocal communication in a non-human animal. In this system, females choose their mate based on perceiving species-specific features of a male's pulsatile advertisement calls in social environments (choruses) characterized by mixtures of overlapping vocalizations. We employed an experimental paradigm from human psychoacoustics to design interleaved pulsatile sequences (ABAB…) that mimicked key features of the species' advertisement call, and in which alternating pulses differed in pulse rise time, which is a robust species recognition cue in eastern grey treefrogs. Using phonotaxis assays, we found no evidence that perceptually salient differences in pulse rise time promoted the segregation of interleaved pulse sequences into distinct auditory streams. These results do not support the hypothesis that any perceptually salient acoustic difference can be exploited as a cue for stream segregation in all species. We discuss these findings in the context of cues used for species recognition and auditory streaming.
PubMed: 38733407
DOI: 10.1007/s00359-024-01702-9 -
Substance Use & Misuse 2024: Illicit substance use is common at music festivals. One could question whether festival attendees deliberately plan to take drugs at such events or whether their...
: Illicit substance use is common at music festivals. One could question whether festival attendees deliberately plan to take drugs at such events or whether their illicit (poly)drug use is provoked by specific circumstances, such as the presence of peers or a general belief that others are using drugs at the festival. : The present study implemented the prototype willingness model, which is a model that assesses whether illicit drug use at music festivals is rather a rational or a more spontaneous decision-making process. : A three-wave panel survey was conducted, questioning festival attendees before (n = 304, 60.86% males), during, and after music festival visits. In total, 186 people (59.68% males) between 18 and 55 years (M = 27.80 years; SD = 8.19) completed all three surveys, of which 62.9% had taken one or more different illicit substances at the festival. Positive attitudes toward illicit drug consumption were most firmly related to attendees' intentions to take drugs at festivals. Additionally, the more festival visitors identified themselves with the prototype of an attendee using drugs, the more likely they were to be willing to use them. The perceived presence of illicit substances at such events was also strongly related to the actual behavior. : The findings suggest that illicit drug use at music festivals relates to both a rational choice and an unplanned one.
Topics: Male; Humans; Female; Holidays; Music; Substance-Related Disorders; Illicit Drugs; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 38129990
DOI: 10.1080/10826084.2023.2294979