scholarly journals Auditory perceptual history is communicated through alpha oscillations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Tam Ho ◽  
Johahn Leung ◽  
David C. Burr ◽  
David Alais ◽  
Maria Concetta Morrone
Keyword(s):  
White Noise ◽  
Response Bias ◽  
Memory Trace ◽  
Phase Reset ◽  
Noisy Environment ◽  
Alpha Oscillations ◽  
Sensory Expectations ◽  
Behavioural Evidence ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Noise Onset

AbstractSensory expectations from the accumulation of information over time exert strong predictive biases on forthcoming perceptual decisions. These anticipatory mechanisms help to maintain a coherent percept in a noisy environment. Here we present novel behavioural evidence that past sensory experience biases perceptual decisions rhythmically through alpha oscillations. Participants identified the ear of origin of a brief sinusoidal tone masked by dichotic white noise, and response bias oscillated over time at ∼9 Hz. Importantly, the oscillations occurred only for trials preceded by a target to the same ear and lasted for at least two trials. These findings suggest that each stimulus elicits an oscillating memory trace, specific to the ear of origin, which subsequently biases perceptual decisions. This trace is phase-reset by the noise onset of the next trial, and remains within the circuitry of the ear in which it was elicited, modulating the sensory representations in that ear.

scholarly journals During Vigilance to Painful Stimuli: Slower Response Rate Related to High Trait Anxiety, whereas a Faster Response Rate is related to High State Anxiety

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy J Meeker ◽  
Nichole M. Emerson ◽  
Jui-Hong Chien ◽  
Mark I. Saffer ◽  
Oscar Joseph Bienvenu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Response Bias ◽  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
State Anxiety ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Time On Task ◽  
Lower Response Rate ◽  
State And Trait Anxiety ◽  
High Trait ◽  
High Trait Anxiety ◽  
Over Time

A pathological increase in vigilance, or hypervigilance, may be related to pain intensity in some clinical pain syndromes and may result from attention bias to salient stimuli mediated by anxiety. During a continuous performance task where subjects discriminated painful target stimuli from painful nontargets, we measured detected targets (hits), nondetected targets (misses), nondetected nontargets (correct rejections), and detected nontargets (false alarms). Using signal detection theory, we calculated response bias, the tendency to endorse a stimulus as a target, and discriminability, the ability to discriminate a target from nontarget. Due to the relatively slow rate of stimulus presentation our primary hypothesis was that sustained performance would result in a more conservative response bias reflecting a lower response rate over time on task. We found a more conservative response bias with time on task and no change in discriminability. We predicted that greater state and trait anxiety would lead to a more liberal response bias. A multivariable model provided partial support for our prediction; high trait anxiety related to a more conservative response bias (lower response rate), while high state anxiety related to a more liberal bias. This inverse relationship of state and trait anxiety is consistent with reports of effects of state and trait anxiety on reaction times to threatening stimuli. In sum, we report that sustained attention to painful stimuli was associated with a decrease in the tendency of the subject to respond to any stimulus over time on task, while the ability to discriminate target from nontarget is unchanged.

Signal Detection Analysis of Effect of White Noise Intensity on Sensitivity to Visual Flicker

1979 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 791-798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan W. Harper
Keyword(s):  
Signal Detection ◽  
White Noise ◽  
Response Bias ◽  
Noise Intensity ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Auditory Stimulation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cortical Arousal ◽  
Detection Analysis ◽  
Signal Detection Analysis

Rating scale estimates of sensitivity to visual flicker were obtained from three subjects under 10 different intensities of auditory stimulation. Results indicated reliable “sawtooch”-like changes in sensitivity as a function of increasing intensity of white noise. No systematic and reliable changes were found in estimates of response bias. Theory and future research are discussed with reference to the possible contribution of cortical arousal.

scholarly journals Automata for the People: Machine Noise and Attention

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Ellison
Keyword(s):  
White Noise ◽  
William James ◽  
Human Machine Interaction ◽  
Musical Performances ◽  
The People ◽  
Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries ◽  
Attention Demands ◽  
Machine Interaction ◽  
Physical Mechanics ◽  
Over Time

This article examines the production and reception of incidental machine noise, specifically the variably registered sounds emanating from automata in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The argument proposed here is that the audience for automata performances demonstrated a capacity to screen out mechanical noise that may have otherwise interfered with the narrative theatricality of their display. In this regard the audience may be said to resemble auditors at musical performances who learned to suppress the various noises associated with the physical mechanics of performance, and the faculty of attention itself. For William James among others, attention demands selection among competing stimuli. As the incidental noise associated with automata disappears from sensibility over time, its capacity to signify in other contexts emerges. In the examples traced here, such noise is a means of distinguishing a specifically etherealised human-machine interaction. This is in sharp distinction from other more degrading forms of relationship such as the sound of bodies labouring at machines. In this regard, the barely detected sound of the automata in operation may be seen as a precursor to the white noise associated with modern, corporate productivity.

Memories of Venice: Analysis of two thought experiments by Derek Parfit

Human Affairs ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-135
Author(s):  
Andrej Rozemberg
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Personal Identity ◽  
Memory Trace ◽  
Thought Experiments ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Derek Parfit ◽  
Mental Life ◽  
Psychological Continuity ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
Over Time

Abstract It is commonly believed that our episodic memory teaches us about the reality of personal identity over time. Derek Parfitt’s notion of quasi-memory challenges this belief. According to Parfit, q-memories provide us with knowledge of past experiences in the same way that memory does, without presupposing that the rememberer and the experiencer are the same person. Various aspects of Parfit’s theory have met with criticism from scholars such as D. Wiggins, J. McDowell, M. Schechtman, and others. In this paper, I will focus primarily on the holistic argument that q-memories cannot be squared with the complex nature of mental life. This is a well-known argument and, when understood as criticism of memory-trace copying, is accepted by some q-memory proponents. In this paper, I will try to show why it is impossible to defend quasi-memory, even when wholesale psychological continuity applies, and why post-fission persons are not genuine cases of q-memories.

scholarly journals Changes in patterns of neural activity underlie a time-dependent transformation of memory in rats and humans

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie J. Sekeres ◽  
Gordon Winocur ◽  
Morris Moscovitch ◽  
John A.E. Anderson ◽  
Sara Pishdadian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Memory Trace ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Time Dependent ◽  
Memory Representation ◽  
Systems Consolidation ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Episodic Memories ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Perceptual Detail ◽  
Over Time

AbstractThe dynamic process of memory consolidation involves a reorganization of brain regions that support a memory trace over time, but exactly how the network reorganizes as the memory changes remains unclear. We present novel converging evidence from studies of animals (rats) and humans for the time-dependent reorganization and transformation of different types of memory as measured both by behavior and brain activation. We find that context-specific memories in rats, and naturalistic episodic memories in humans, lose precision over time and activity in the hippocampus decreases. If, however, the retrieved memories retain contextual or perceptual detail, the hippocampus is engaged similarly at recent and remote timepoints. As the interval between the timepoint increases, the medial prefrontal cortex is engaged increasingly during memory retrieval, regardless of the context or the amount of retrieved detail. Moreover, these hippocampal-frontal shifts are accompanied by corresponding changes in a network of cortical structures mediating perceptually-detailed as well as less precise, schematic memories. These findings provide cross-species evidence for the crucial interplay between hippocampus and neocortex that reflects changes in memory representation over time and underlies systems consolidation.

Decreases in Stuttering Frequency as a Function of Continuous and Contingent Forms of Auditory Masking

1970 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald L. Webster ◽  
Michael F. Dorman
Keyword(s):  
White Noise ◽  
Middle Ear ◽  
Noise Control ◽  
Auditory Masking ◽  
Noise Condition ◽  
Noise Masking ◽  
Continuous Noise ◽  
Noise Onset

This experiment examined the effects of continuous and contingent white noise masking upon the speech of 10 stutterers. The methodology equated the frequency of masking opportunities during (1) noise onset made contingent upon phonation, and (2) noise cessation made contingent upon phonation. A continuous noise condition and a no-noise control condition were also included. All noise conditions produced significantly less stuttering than the no-noise control condition. The three masking conditions yielded approximately the same reductions in the frequency of stuttered responses. Fluency enhancement by the various masking conditions could possibly be explained by reflex functions of the middle ear muscles.

scholarly journals Two-method planned missing designs for longitudinal research

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 411-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauricio Garnier-Villarreal ◽  
Mijke Rhemtulla ◽  
Todd D. Little
Keyword(s):  
Response Bias ◽  
Cost Efficiency ◽  
Gold Standard ◽  
Latent Variable ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Simulated Data ◽  
Variable Model ◽  
Planned Missingness ◽  
Measurement Design ◽  
Over Time

We examine longitudinal extensions of the two-method measurement design, which uses planned missingness to optimize cost-efficiency and validity of hard-to-measure constructs. These designs use a combination of two measures: a “gold standard” that is highly valid but expensive to administer, and an inexpensive (e.g., survey-based) measure that contains systematic measurement bias (e.g., response bias). Using simulated data on four measurement occasions, we compared the cost-efficiency and validity of longitudinal designs where the gold standard is measured at one or more measurement occasions. We manipulated the nature of the response bias over time (constant, increasing, fluctuating), the factorial structure of the response bias over time, and the constraints placed on the latent variable model. Our results showed that parameter bias is lowest when the gold standard is measured on at least two occasions. When a multifactorial structure was used to model response bias over time, it is necessary to have the “gold standard” measures included at every time point, in which case most of the parameters showed low bias. Almost all parameters in all conditions displayed high relative efficiency, suggesting that the 2-method design is an effective way to reduce costs and improve both power and accuracy in longitudinal research.

Listeners perceive prefixes differently: Evidence from a noise-rating task

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Pycha
Keyword(s):  
White Noise ◽  
Perceptual Bias ◽  
Common Source ◽  
Rating Task ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
Speech Stream ◽  
Spoken Words ◽  
Prefixed Words ◽  
Over Time

When compared to suffixes, prefixes possess several distinctive but largely unexplained properties. This paper explores the idea that these properties might arise from a common source, namely discontinuous recognition of spoken prefixed words, in which listeners ‘skip’ to that portion of the speech stream which contains the root. If this occurs, listeners could potentially perceive prefixes very differently than roots and suffixes. We investigated this idea with a noise-rating task, which measures the extent to which noise subjectively interferes with speech. Using newly-coined derived English words as a stimuli, participants rated the loudness of white noise overlaid on portions of spoken words corresponding to prefixes, word-initial roots, or suffixes. Results indicate that participants gave overall higher loudness ratings to noise on prefixes compared to noise on suffixes. Furthermore, as signal-to-noise ratios decreased, participants increased their loudness ratings at greater rates for noise on roots compared to noise on prefixes. These results support the discontinuous hypothesis, and suggest that prefixed words introduce a perceptual bias which could explain the development of certain distinctive prefix characteristics over time.

Long-Term Negative Priming: Support for Retrieval of Prior Attentional Processes

2005 ◽  
Vol 58 (7) ◽  
pp. 1199-1224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Grison ◽  
Steven P. Tipper ◽  
Olivia Hewitt
Keyword(s):  
Negative Priming ◽  
Memory Trace ◽  
Irrelevant Information ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Attentional Processes ◽  
Prime Display ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Over Time

Negative priming reveals that participants respond slowly to a probe target that was a task-irrelevant distractor in the preceding prime display (e.g., Tipper, 1985) and is thought to reflect processes mediating short-term behaviour. However, since the first surprising reports that negative priming is found with meaningless stimuli across delays of 30 days (e.g., DeSchepper & Treisman, 1996), researchers have questioned the existence of long-term negative priming effects. Because long-term negative priming could indicate that task-irrelevant information leaves a memory trace that impacts performance over time, such a finding is of immense theoretical importance. Indeed, the current research finds support for the existence of long-term negative priming as well as its generality across different stimuli and conditions. The authors propose that the initial processes that prevent response to irrelevant stimuli may be stored in memory, where retrieval of these processes can mediate behaviour over time.

Temporal Auditory Acuity in Blind and Sighted Subjects: A Signal Detection Analysis

1982 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 963-966 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Bross ◽  
Myra Borenstein
Keyword(s):  
Signal Detection ◽  
White Noise ◽  
Response Bias ◽  
Auditory Sensitivity ◽  
Sensory Sensitivity ◽  
Detection Analysis ◽  
Signal Detection Analysis ◽  
Auditory Acuity ◽  
Sensory Compensation

Temporal auditory sensitivity was compared in five adventitiously blind and five normally sighted subjects in a signal-detection paradigm. Following determination of individual auditory flutter fusion (AFF) thresholds the subjects were required to make forced-choice responses between a fluttering and fused white noise under stimulus probabilities of 0.25, 0.50, and 0.75. From these data indices of sensory sensitivity ( d') and response bias (Beta) were computed and compared. Analysis indicated no significant differences in auditory sensitivity between the two groups. These findings further weaken the traditional hypothesis of sensory compensation.

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