Individual differences in perception of the speech-to-song illusion are linked to musical aptitude but not musical training.

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (12) ◽  
pp. 1681-1697
Author(s):  
Adam Tierney ◽  
Aniruddh D. Patel ◽  
Kyle Jasmin ◽  
Mara Breen
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Musical Aptitude

scholarly journals Individual Differences in Perception of the Speech-to-Song Illusion are Linked to Musical Aptitude but not Musical Experience

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Tierney ◽  
Aniruddh D. Patel ◽  
Kyle Jasmin ◽  
Mara Breen
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
General Population ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Prior Work ◽  
Musical Aptitude ◽  
Musical Skills ◽  
Musical Characteristics

In the speech-to-song illusion certain spoken phrases are perceived as sung after repetition. Prior work has established that perception of the illusion is not limited to specialist listeners, such as individuals with musical training, but is perceived widely across the general population. However, little is known about whether there are stable individual differences in perception of the illusion, and if so, what factors underlie this variability. Here we assessed the strength of the song illusion across individuals using phrases that tend to be perceived as song when repeated, as well as phrases that continue to be perceived as speech when repeated, measuring the strength of the illusion as the rating difference between these two stimulus categories after repetition. Illusion strength varied widely, with differences in perception of the two categories ranging from 0% to 80% of the rating scale. Although variability in illusion strength was unrelated to degree of musical training, participants who perceived the illusion more strongly were proficient in several musical skills, including beat perception, tonality perception, and selective attention to pitch. This finding supports theoretical models of the speech-to-song illusion in which experience of the illusion is based on detection of musical characteristics latent in spoken phrases.

Musicians upweight pitch during prosodic categorization

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley E Symons ◽  
Adam Tierney
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Prior Experience ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Task Relevance ◽  
Potential Predictor ◽  
Cue Weighting ◽  
Multiple Dimensions ◽  
Linguistic Focus ◽  
Speech Categorization

Speech perception requires the integration of evidence from acoustic cues across multiple dimensions. Individuals differ in their cue weighting strategies, i.e. the weight they assign to different acoustic dimensions during speech categorization. In two experiments, we investigate musical training as one potential predictor of individual differences in prosodic cue weighting strategies. Attentional theories of speech categorization suggest that prior experience with the task-relevance of a particular acoustic dimensions leads that dimension to attract attention. Therefore, Experiment 1 tested whether musicians and non-musicians differed in their ability to selectively attend to pitch and loudness in speech. Compared to non-musicians, musicians showed enhanced dimension-selective attention to pitch but not loudness. In Experiment 2, we tested the hypothesis that musicians would show greater pitch weighting during prosodic categorization due to prior experience with the task-relevance of pitch cues in music. In this experiment, listeners categorized phrases that varied in the extent to which pitch and duration signaled the location of linguistic focus and phrase boundaries. During linguistic focus categorization only, musicians up-weighted pitch compared to non-musicians. These results suggest that musical training is linked with domain-general enhancements of the salience of pitch cues, and that this increase in pitch salience may lead to to an up-weighting of pitch during some prosodic categorization tasks. These findings also support attentional theories of cue weighting, in which more salient acoustic dimensions are given more importance during speech categorization.

scholarly journals Erratum: Musical training, individual differences and the cocktail party problem

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayaganesh Swaminathan ◽  
Christine R. Mason ◽  
Timothy M. Streeter ◽  
Virginia Best ◽  
Gerald Kidd, Jr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Cocktail Party ◽  
Cocktail Party Problem

scholarly journals Musical training, individual differences and the cocktail party problem

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayaganesh Swaminathan ◽  
Christine R. Mason ◽  
Timothy M. Streeter ◽  
Virginia Best ◽  
Gerald Kidd, Jr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Spatial Location ◽  
Large Individual ◽  
Cocktail Party ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Cocktail Party Problem ◽  
Speech In Noise ◽  
Speech Science ◽  
Spatial Locations

Abstract Are musicians better able to understand speech in noise than non-musicians? Recent findings have produced contradictory results. Here we addressed this question by asking musicians and non-musicians to understand target sentences masked by other sentences presented from different spatial locations, the classical ‘cocktail party problem’ in speech science. We found that musicians obtained a substantial benefit in this situation, with thresholds ~6 dB better than non-musicians. Large individual differences in performance were noted particularly for the non-musically trained group. Furthermore, in different conditions we manipulated the spatial location and intelligibility of the masking sentences, thus changing the amount of ‘informational masking’ (IM) while keeping the amount of ‘energetic masking’ (EM) relatively constant. When the maskers were unintelligible and spatially separated from the target (low in IM), musicians and non-musicians performed comparably. These results suggest that the characteristics of speech maskers and the amount of IM can influence the magnitude of the differences found between musicians and non-musicians in multiple-talker “cocktail party” environments. Furthermore, considering the task in terms of the EM-IM distinction provides a conceptual framework for future behavioral and neuroscientific studies which explore the underlying sensory and cognitive mechanisms contributing to enhanced “speech-in-noise” perception by musicians.

scholarly journals The Effects of Musical Aptitude and Musical Training on Phonological Production in Foreign Languages

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhengwei Pei ◽  
Yidi Wu ◽  
Xiaocui Xiang ◽  
Huimin Qian
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Chinese College Students ◽  
Musical Aptitude ◽  
Better Than

<p>This study investigates 128 Chinese college students to examine the effects of their musical aptitude and musical training on phonological production in four foreign languages. Results show that musically-trained students remarkably possessed stronger musical aptitude than those without musical training and performed better than their counterpart in foreign language suprasegmental production. Students of high musical aptitude performed significantly better in suprasegmental production and Russian production as compared with those of low musical aptitude. Musical aptitude could exert some effects on foreign language phonological production. With the music-phonology link confirmed in this study, pedagogical implications for teaching and learning of foreign language phonology are discussed.</p>

scholarly journals Speech rhythm sensitivity and musical aptitude: ERPs and individual differences

2016 ◽  
Vol 153-154 ◽  
pp. 13-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyrille Magne ◽  
Deanna K. Jordan ◽  
Reyna L. Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Speech Rhythm ◽  
Musical Aptitude

scholarly journals Cross-Modal Priming Effect of Rhythm on Visual Word Recognition and Its Relationships to Music Aptitude and Reading Achievement

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tess S. Fotidzis ◽  
Heechun Moon ◽  
Jessica R. Steele ◽  
Cyrille L. Magne
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Reading Achievement ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Priming Effect ◽  
Stress Pattern ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Standardized Assessments ◽  
Musical Rhythm ◽  
Musical Aptitude ◽  
Negative Effect

Recent evidence suggests the existence of shared neural resources for rhythm processing in language and music. Such overlaps could be the basis of the facilitating effect of regular musical rhythm on spoken word processing previously reported for typical children and adults, as well as adults with Parkinson&rsquo;s disease and children with developmental language disorders. The present study builds upon these previous findings by examining whether musical rhythmic priming also influences visual word processing, and the extent to which such cross-modal priming effect of rhythm is related to individual differences in musical aptitude and reading skills. EEG was recorded while participants listened to a rhythmic tone prime, followed by a visual target word with a stress pattern that either matched or mismatched the rhythmic structure of the auditory prime. Participants were also administered standardized assessments of musical aptitude and reading achievement. ERPs elicited by target words with a mismatching stress pattern showed an increased fronto-central negativity. Additionally, the size of the negative effect correlated with individual differences in musical rhythm aptitude and reading comprehension skills. Results support the existence of shared neurocognitive resources for linguistic and musical rhythm processing, and have important implications for the use of rhythm-based activities for reading interventions.

scholarly journals Musical Aptitude as a Variable in the Assessment of Working Memory and Selective Attention Tasks

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 178-188
Author(s):  
Kavassery Venkateswaran Nisha ◽  
Devi Neelamegarajan ◽  
Nishant N. Nayagam ◽  
Jim Saroj Winston ◽  
Sam Publius Anil
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Cognitive Test ◽  
Musical Aptitude ◽  
Low Performance ◽  
Cognitive Test Performance

Background and Objectives: The influence of musical aptitude on cognitive test performance in musicians is a long-debated research question. Evidence points to the low performance of nonmusicians in visual and auditory cognitive tasks (working memory and attention) compared with musicians. This cannot be generalized to all nonmusicians, as a sub-group in this population can have innate musical abilities even without any formal musical training. The present study aimed to study the effect of musical aptitude on the working memory and selective attention.Subjects and Methods: Three groups of 20 individuals each (a total of 60 participants), including trained-musicians, nonmusicians with good musical aptitude, and nonmusicians with low musical aptitude, participated in the present study. Cognitive-based visual (Flanker’s selective attention test) and auditory (working memory tests: backward digit span and operation span) tests were administered.Results: MANOVA (followed by ANOVA) revealed a benefit of musicianship and musical aptitude on backward digit span and Flanker’s reaction time (p<0.05). Discriminant function analyses showed that the groups could be effectively (accuracy, 80%) segregated based on the backward digit span and Flanker’s selective attention test. Trained musicians and nonmusicians with good musical aptitude were distinguished as one cluster and nonmusicians with low musical aptitude formed another cluster, hinting the role of musical aptitude in working memory and selective attention.Conclusions: Nonmusicians with good musical aptitude can have enhanced working memory and selective attention skills like musicians. Hence, caution is required when these individuals are included as controls in cognitive-based visual and auditory experiments.

scholarly journals Phonological memory, attention control, and musical ability: Effects of individual differences on rater judgments of second language speech

2010 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
TALIA ISAACS ◽  
PAVEL TROFIMOVICH
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Attention Control ◽  
Music Majors ◽  
Phonological Memory ◽  
Musical Ability ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Musical Aptitude ◽  
Memory And Attention ◽  
Nonmusic Majors

ABSTRACTThis study examines how listener judgments of second language speech relate to individual differences in listeners’ phonological memory, attention control, and musical ability. Sixty native English listeners (30 music majors, 30 nonmusic majors) rated 40 nonnative speech samples for accentedness, comprehensibility, and fluency. The listeners were also assessed for phonological memory (serial recognition), attention control (trail making), and musical aptitude. Results showed that music majors assigned significantly lower scores than nonmusic majors solely for accentedness, particularly for low ability second language speakers. However, the ratings were not significantly affected by individual differences in listeners’ phonological memory and attention control, which implies that these factors do not bias listeners’ subjective judgments of speech. Implications for psycholinguistic research and for high-stakes speaking assessments are discussed.

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