Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance

Compensation for coarticulation: Disentangling auditory and gestural theories of perception of coarticulatory effects in speech.
According to one approach to speech perception, listeners perceive speech by applying general pattern matching mechanisms to the acoustic signal (e.g., Diehl, Lotto, & Holt, 2004). An alternative is that listeners perceive the phonetic gestures that structured the acoustic signal (e.g., Fowler, 1986). The two accounts have offered different explanations for the phenomenon of compensation for coarticulation (CfC). An example of CfC is that if a speaker produces a gesture with a front place of articulation, it may be pulled slightly backwards if it follows a back place of articulation, and listeners' category boundaries shift (compensate) accordingly. The gestural account appeals to direct attunement to coarticulation to explain CfC, whereas the auditory account explains it by spectral contrast. In previous studies, spectral contrast and gestural consequences of coarticulation have been correlated, such that both accounts made identical predictions. We identify a liquid context in Tamil that disentangles contrast and coarticulation, such that the two accounts make different predictions. In a standard CfC task in Experiment 1, gestural coarticulation rather than spectral contrast determined the direction of CfC. Experiments 2, 3, and 4 demonstrated that tone analogues of the speech precursors failed to produce the same effects observed in Experiment 1, suggesting that simple spectral contrast cannot account for the findings of Experiment 1. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Priming in melody perception: Tracking down the strength of cognitive expectations.
The musical priming paradigm has shown facilitated processing for tonally related over less-related targets. However, the congruence between tonal relatedness and the psychoacoustical properties of music challenges cognitive interpretations of the involved processes. Our goal was to show that cognitive expectations (based on listeners' tonal knowledge) elicit tonal priming in melodies independently of sensory components (e.g., spectral overlap). A first priming experiment minimized sensory components by manipulating tonal relatedness with a single note change in the melodies. Processing was facilitated for related over less-related target tones, but an auditory short-term memory model succeeded in simulating this effect, thus suggesting a sensory-based explanation. When the same melodies were played with pure tones (instead of piano tones), the sensory model failed to differentiate between related and less-related targets, while listeners' data continued to show a tonal relatedness effect (Experiment 2). The tonal priming effect observed here thus provides strong evidence for the influence of listeners' tonal knowledge on music processing. The overall findings point out the need for controlled musical material (and notably beyond tone repetition) to study cognitive components in music perception. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Auditory stream segregation and the perception of across-frequency synchrony.
This study explored the extent to which sequential auditory grouping affects the perception of temporal synchrony. In Experiment 1, listeners discriminated between 2 pairs of asynchronous “target” tones at different frequencies, A and B, in which the B tone either led or lagged. Thresholds were markedly higher when the target tones were temporally surrounded by “captor tones” at the A frequency than when the captor tones were absent or at a remote frequency. Experiment 2 extended these findings to asynchrony detection, revealing that the perception of synchrony, one of the most potent cues for simultaneous auditory grouping, is not immune to competing effects of sequential grouping. Experiment 3 examined the influence of ear separation on the interactions between sequential and simultaneous grouping cues. The results showed that, although ear separation could facilitate perceptual segregation and impair asynchrony detection, it did not prevent the perceptual integration of simultaneous sounds. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Are fast interceptive actions continuously guided by vision? Revisiting Bootsma and van Wieringen (1990).
In an influential study, R. J. Bootsma and P. C. W. van Wieringen (1990) argued that 2 of their 5 participants used visual information continuously during the attacking forehand drive in table tennis, its brief duration vis-à-vis the visuomotor delay notwithstanding. The authors repeated Bootsma and van Wieringen's experiment and included a condition in which vision was obscured after drive initiation. The authors replicated most of Bootsma and van Wieringen's findings but found no significant differences between the full-vision and no-vision conditions, which goes against the interpretation of these findings as evidence for continuous visual guidance. A subsequent simulation study found that a single preprogrammed muscle stimulation pattern resulted in spatiotemporal convergence similar to that observed experimentally but not in other important behavioral characteristics. The results contain no indications that visual information that becomes available after drive initiation affects arm motion and suggest that a form of model-based predictive control is operative rather than continuous visual guidance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Top-level players' visual control of interceptive actions: Bootsma and van Wieringen (1990) 20 years later.
Using a two-step approach, Van Soest et al. (2010) recently questioned the pertinence of the conclusions drawn by Bootsma and Van Wieringen (1990) with respect to the visual regulation of an exemplary rapid interceptive action: the attacking forehand drive in table tennis. In the first step, they experimentally compared the movement behaviors of their participants under conditions with and without vision available during the execution of the drive. In the second step, through simulation they evaluated the extent to which a preprogrammed pattern of muscle stimulation acting on the dynamical characteristics of the musculoskeletal system could explain the patterns of movement observed, including the phenomena of kinematic convergence and compensatory variability. In this contribution, we show how methodological and conceptual shortcomings, pertaining to both parts of Van Soest et al.'s study, severely limit the impact of their findings. We argue that their conclusion—denying the possibility of visual regulation of rapid interceptive actions—cannot be upheld in the light of the existing evidence, while Bootsma and Van Wieringen's conclusion—in favor of the visual regulation of rapid interceptive actions in top-level players— still holds strong, even after 20 years. Irrespective of the trends of the moment, we suggest that both appropriate experimentation and principled theorization need to be deployed before a model-based predictive architecture can be considered as a serious alternative to a (more parsimonious) information-based control architecture. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Similar findings, different interpretations: A response to the commentary by Bootsma et al. (2010).
In this paper, we respond to the commentary by R J. Bootsma, L. Fernandez, A. H. P. Morice, and G. Montagne (2010) concerning our original study on the role of vision during the execution of fast interceptive actions (A. J. van Soest, L. J. R. Casius, W. de Kok, M. Krijger, M. Meeder, and P. J. Beek, 2010), that was inspired by the seminal study of R. J. Bootsma and P. C. W. van Wieringen (1990). Most importantly, we reiterate that the control strategy used in the simulation study (preprogrammed muscle stimulation, triggered at an appropriate time) was adopted on the sole ground that it was the simplest control strategy that allowed us to investigate the role of the visco-elastic properties of muscles. Regarding the visuomotor delay of our participants, we note that the assumption that the visuomotor delay can be reliably identified as the time from the occurrence of a minimum in the coefficient of variation of the relative rate of dilation to the instant of ball contact, is not generally accepted; lacking firm data on the visuomotor delay of our participants, any arguments on the relation between movement time and visuomotor delay are not well grounded. All in all, we believe that our original study added several new–but by no means final–insights to the understanding of the control of fast interceptive actions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
The line motion illusion: The detection of counterchanging edge and surface contrast.
A version of the line motion illusion (LMI) occurs when one of two adjacent surfaces changes in luminance; a new surface is perceived sliding in front of the initially presented surface. Previous research has implicated high-level mechanisms that can create or modulate LMI motion via feedback to lower-level motion detectors. It is shown here that there also is a non-motion-energy, feedforward basis for LMI motion entailing the detection of counterchange, a spatial pattern of motion-specifying stimulus information that combines changes in edge contrast with oppositely signed changes in background-relative surface contrast. It was concluded that (1) in addition to LMI motion, edge/surface counterchange could be the basis for perceiving continuous object motion, (2) counterchange detection is the likely basis for third-order motion perception (Lu & Sperling, 1995a), and (3) motion energy and counterchange mechanisms could be composed of different arrangements of the same spatial and temporal filters, the former detecting motion at a single location, the latter detecting the motion path between pairs of locations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Infants' perception of affordances of slopes under high- and low-friction conditions.
Three experiments investigated whether 14- and 15-month-old infants use information for both friction and slant for prospective control of locomotion down slopes. In Experiment 1, high- and low-friction conditions were interleaved on a range of shallow and steep slopes. In Experiment 2, friction conditions were blocked. In Experiment 3, the low-friction surface was visually distinct from the surrounding high-friction surface. In all three experiments, infants could walk down steeper slopes in the high-friction condition than they could in the low-friction condition. Infants detected affordances for walking down slopes in the high-friction condition, but in the low-friction condition, they attempted impossibly slippery slopes and fell repeatedly. In both friction conditions, when infants paused to explore slopes, they were less likely to attempt slopes beyond their ability. Exploration was elicited by visual information for slant (Experiments 1 and 2) or by a visually distinct surface that marked the change in friction (Experiment 3). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
The paired-object affordance effect.
We demonstrate that right-handed participants make speeded classification responses to pairs of objects that appear in standard co-locations for right-handed actions relative to when they appear in reflected locations. These effects are greater when participants “weight” information for action when deciding if 2 objects are typically used together, compared with deciding if objects typically occur in a given context. The effects are enhanced, and affect both types of decision, when an agent is shown holding the objects. However, the effects are eliminated when the objects are not viewed from the first-person perspective and when words are presented rather than objects. The data suggest that (a) participants are sensitive to whether objects are positioned correctly for their own actions, (b) the position information is coded within an egocentric reference frame, (c) the critical representation involved is visual and not semantic, and (d) the effects are enhanced by a sense of agency. The results can be interpreted within a dual-route framework for action retrieval in which a direct visual route is influenced by affordances for action. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
The role of expertise in tool use: Skill differences in functional action adaptations to task constraints.
Tool use can be considered a particularly useful model to understand the nature of functional actions. In 3 experiments, tool-use actions typified by stone knapping were investigated. Participants had to detach stone flakes from a flint core through a conchoidal fracture. Successful flake detachment requires controlling various functional parameters simultaneously. Accordingly, our goals were twofold: (a) to examine the regulation of kinetic energy by varying the properties of the hammers and the goal, and (b) to characterize the difference in action regulation across skill levels. All groups were able to modify their actions according to changes in task goals, but only experts displayed fine-tuning to functional parameters (i.e., regulate actions according to changes in hammer weight in a manner that left kinetic energy unchanged). Expertise is considered to depend on the identification of the interactions between functional parameters. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Acquisition of automatic imitation is sensitive to sensorimotor contingency.
The associative sequence learning model proposes that the development of the mirror system depends on the same mechanisms of associative learning that mediate Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning. To test this model, two experiments used the reduction of automatic imitation through incompatible sensorimotor training to assess whether mirror system plasticity is sensitive to contingency (i.e., the extent to which activation of one representation predicts activation of another). In Experiment 1, residual automatic imitation was measured following incompatible training in which the action stimulus was a perfect predictor of the response (contingent) or not at all predictive of the response (noncontingent). A contingency effect was observed: There was less automatic imitation indicative of more learning in the contingent group. Experiment 2 replicated this contingency effect and showed that, as predicted by associative learning theory, it can be abolished by signaling trials in which the response occurs in the absence of an action stimulus. These findings support the view that mirror system development depends on associative learning and indicate that this learning is not purely Hebbian. If this is correct, associative learning theory could be used to explain, predict, and intervene in mirror system development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
The object-based Simon effect: Grasping affordance or relative location of the graspable part?
Reaction time is often shorter when the irrelevant graspable handle of an object corresponds with the location of a keypress response to the relevant attribute than when it does not. This object-based Simon effect has been attributed to an affordance for grasping the handle with the hand to the same side. Because a grasping affordance should differentially affect keypress responses only when they are made with different hands, we conducted three experiments that measured the object-based Simon effect for frying pan stimuli using between- and within-hand response sets. When the relevant stimulus dimension was color, neither the object-based Simon effect nor the location-based Simon effect varied across response sets. When upright-inverted orientation judgments were made for the frying pan and for nongraspable stimuli derived from it, there again was no significant difference in size of the between- and within-hand Simon effects for any of the stimuli. The results provide evidence that the Simon effect for graspable frying pan stimuli is because of relative location of the handle and not to a grasping affordance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Learning to perceive the affordance for long-distance throwing: Smart mechanism or function learning?
Bingham, Schmidt, & Rosenblum, (1989) showed that people are able to select, by hefting balls, the optimal weight for each size ball to be thrown farthest. We now investigate function learning and smart mechanisms as hypotheses about how this affordance is perceived. Twenty-four unskilled adult throwers learned to throw by practicing with a subset of balls that would only allow acquisition of the ability to perceive the affordance if hefting acts as a smart mechanism to provide access to a single information variable that specifies the affordance. Participants hefted 48 balls of different sizes and weights and judged throwability. Then, participants, assigned to one of four groups, practiced throwing (three groups with vision and one without) for a month using different subsets of balls. Finally, hefting and throwing were tested again with all the balls. The results showed: (1) inability to detect throwability before practice, (2) throwing improved with practice, and (3) participants learned to perceive the affordance, but only with visual feedback. These results indicated that the affordance is perceived using a smart mechanism acquired while learning to throw. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Cross-modal face identity aftereffects and their relation to priming.
We tested the magnitude of the face identity aftereffect following adaptation to different modes of adaptors in four experiments. The perceptual midpoint between two morphed famous faces was measured pre- and post-adaptation. Significant aftereffects were observed for visual (faces) and nonvisual adaptors (voices and names) but not nonspecific semantic information (e.g., occupations). Aftereffects were also observed following imagination and adaptation to an associated person. The strongest aftereffects were found adapting to facial caricatures. These results are discussed in terms of cross-modal adaptation occurring at various loci within the face-recognition system analogous to priming. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Tight coupling between positive and reversed priming in the masked prime paradigm.
When associations between certain visual stimuli and particular actions are learned, those stimuli become capable of automatically and unconsciously activating their associated action plans. Such sensorimotor priming is assumed to be fundamental for efficient responses, and can be reliably measured in masked prime studies even when the primes are not consciously perceived. However, when the delay between prime and target is increased, reversed priming effects are often found instead (the negative compatibility effect, NCE). The main accounts of the NCE assume that it too is a sensorimotor phenomenon, predicting that it should occur only when the initial positive priming phase also occurs. Alternatively, reversed priming may reflect a perceptual process entirely independent from positive motor priming (which is simply evident at a different temporal delay), in which case no dependency is expected between the NCE and positive priming. We tested these predictions while new sensorimotor associations were learned, and found a remarkable symmetry between positive and reversed priming during all such learning phases, supporting the idea that reversed priming is a sensorimotor process that automatically follows the positive priming phase. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Interpreting chicken-scratch: Lexical access for handwritten words.
Handwritten word recognition is a field of study that has largely been neglected in the psychological literature, despite its prevalence in society. Whereas studies of spoken word recognition almost exclusively employ natural, human voices as stimuli, studies of visual word recognition use synthetic typefaces, thus simplifying the process of word recognition. The current study examined the effects of handwriting on a series of lexical variables thought to influence bottom-up and top-down processing, including word frequency, regularity, bidirectional consistency, and imageability. The results suggest that the natural physical ambiguity of handwritten stimuli forces a greater reliance on top-down processes, because almost all effects were magnified, relative to conditions with computer print. These findings suggest that processes of word perception naturally adapt to handwriting, compensating for physical ambiguity by increasing top-down feedback. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Evidence from visuomotor adaptation for two partially independent visuomotor systems.
Visual information can specify spatial layout with respect to the observer (egocentric) or with respect to an external frame of reference (allocentric). People can use both of these types of visual spatial information to guide their hands. The question arises if movements based on egocentric and movements based on allocentric visual information comprise 2 independent visuomotor systems. In the experiments reported here, we used visuomotor adaptation to address this question. In an adaptation phase, subjects received distorted-visual feedback about their hand movements (17° rotation and 110% amplitude stretch). In a testing phase (no-visual feedback), we measured how behavior changes in response to the distorted-visual feedback. During adaptation and testing, we used 2 tasks that required processing of either egocentric or allocentric visual information. The results show that behavioral changes are significantly larger when the same task is used during testing and adaptation, compared to when the task is switched. The findings suggest that the human brain employs 2 partially independent visuomotor systems that rely on different types of visual spatial information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Perceptual and attentional influences on continuous 2:1 and 3:2 multi-frequency bimanual coordination.
Two experiments were conducted to determine if multi-frequency (2:1 and 3:2) coordination between the limbs is enhanced when integrated feedback is provided in the form of Lissajous plots, attention demands are reduced, and attempts to consciously coordinate the limbs are not encouraged. To determine the influence of vision of the limbs, covered and uncovered limb groups were provided online Lissajous feedback. To determine the impact of the Lissajous feedback, a control group that was not provided Lissajous feedback was also tested. The data indicated remarkably effective performances after 5 min of practice when limbs were covered and Lissajous feedback was provided. When Lissajous feedback was provided and vision of the limbs was permitted, performance deteriorated. Performance by the group not provided Lissajous feedback was quite poor. The findings suggest that some of the difficulty associated with producing difficult bimanual coordination patterns are due to the less than optimal perceptual information available in various testing situations and the attentional focus imposed by the participant. Two experiments were conducted to determine if multi-frequency (2:1 and 3:2) coordination between the limbs is enhanced when integrated feedback is provided in the form of Lissajous plots, attention demands are reduced, and attempts to consciously coordinate the limbs are not encouraged. To determine the influence of vision of the limbs, covered and uncovered limb groups were provided online Lissajous feedback. To determine the impact of the Lissajous feedback, a control group that was not provided Lissajous feedback was also tested. The data indicated remarkably effective performances after 5 min of practice when limbs were covered and Lissajous feedback was provided. When Lissajous feedback was provided and vision of the limbs was permitted, performance deteriorated. Performance by the group not provided Lissajous feedback was quite poor. The findings suggest that some of the difficulty associated with producing difficult bimanual coordination patterns are due to the less than optimal perceptual information available in various testing situations and the attentional focus imposed by the participant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Action selection in complex routinized sequential behaviors.
We report two experiments in which errors and interaction latencies were recorded during routinization of hierarchically structured computer-based tasks. Experiment 1 demonstrates that action selection is slowed at subtask transitions, especially when selecting lower frequency actions. This frequency effect is compounded by concurrent performance of a secondary, attentionally demanding, task. Experiment 2 replicates these results in a more complex task and further demonstrates that the effects are reduced by experience. Several other factors were also found to affect latencies, including the availability of an external disambiguation cue and the temporal distance over which task context needs to be internally maintained. The results support a “dual-systems” account of action selection in which a “routine” system, sensitive to frequency, context, and experience, is selectively modulated by an attentionally demanding “nonroutine” system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Psychophysical reverse correlation with multiple response alternatives.
Psychophysical reverse-correlation methods such as the “classification image” technique provide a unique tool to uncover the internal representations and decision strategies of individual participants in perceptual tasks. Over the past 30 years, these techniques have gained increasing popularity among both visual and auditory psychophysicists. However, thus far, principled applications of the psychophysical reverse-correlation approach have been almost exclusively limited to two-alternative decision (detection or discrimination) tasks. Whether and how reverse-correlation methods can be applied to uncover perceptual templates and decision strategies in situations involving more than just two response alternatives remain largely unclear. Here, the authors consider the problem of estimating perceptual templates and decision strategies in stimulus identification tasks with multiple response alternatives. They describe a modified correlational approach, which can be used to solve this problem. The approach is evaluated under a variety of simulated conditions, including different ratios of internal-to-external noise, different degrees of correlations between the sensory observations, and various statistical distributions of stimulus perturbations. The results indicate that the proposed approach is reasonably robust, suggesting that it could be used in future empirical studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
A dual-process account of auditory change detection.
Listeners can be “deaf” to a substantial change in a scene comprising multiple auditory objects unless their attention has been directed to the changed object. It is unclear whether auditory change detection relies on identification of the objects in pre- and post-change scenes. We compared the rates at which listeners correctly identify changed objects with those predicted by change-detection models based on signal detection theory (SDT) and high-threshold theory (HTT). Detected changes were not identified as accurately as predicted by models based on either theory, suggesting that some changes are detected by a process that does not support change identification. Undetected changes were identified as accurately as predicted by the HTT model but much less accurately than predicted by the SDT models. The process underlying change detection was investigated further by determining receiver-operating characteristics (ROCs). ROCs did not conform to those predicted by either a SDT or a HTT model but were well modeled by a dual-process that incorporated HTT and SDT components. The dual-process model also accurately predicted the rates at which detected and undetected changes were correctly identified. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance - Vol 36, Iss 4