Auditory perception

(slides on collab website)

Newborn hearing is ~ adultlike
 Gratuitous humor about babies
and music
•  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnBau6fL8S8

•  http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=tAFDux0UL9c&feature=related

•  Another one at the end of class!

IDS
Why IDS?
 Building blocks of speech
perception
Phonemes: “letters” of speech
[b], [g], [k], [i], [u]

?? Do we perceive speech in a special

way?
(differently from colors, music, faces, etc.)

?? Is speech perception innate?

 Categorical Perception (CP)

•  The perception of a continuum in

terms of categories.
•  A perceptual illusion
 CP

Continuous variation of stimulus!

CP divides stimulus into

categories:!
 Two Effects of CP

Continuous variation of stimulus!

 ! ! !!
All differences equally perceptible!
 Two Effects of CP

Continuous variation of stimulus!

 ! ! !!
All differences equally perceptible!

Categorical perception:!
 ! ! !!
1. !Good between-category discrimination!
2. !Poor within-category discrimination!
 What is CP Good For?

•  Good discrimination between

categories, e.g. [b], [d], [g]

•  Ignore uninformative variation

within a category
Example: Voice Onset Time (VOT)
/pa/ vs. /ba/
/ta/ vs. /da/
Example: Voice Onset Time (VOT)
/pa/ vs. /ba/
/ta/ vs. /da/
Continuous range of VOT!

Short VOT…………………....Long VOT!

Example: Voice Onset Time (VOT)
/pa/ vs. /ba/
/ta/ vs. /da/
Continuous range of VOT!

Short VOT…………………....Long VOT!

Categorical perception of signal!

--------Voiced-------|------Voiceless------!
/ba/ /pa/!
 Continuous vs. Categorical
100
90 continuous
80 categorical
% pa responses

70
60
50
40
30
20 boundary
10
0
+0 +10 +20 +30 +40 +50 +60
VOT (msec)
Is CP for speech innate?
 CP in Infants
•  Do infants perceive VOT changes
continuously or categorically?

0 msec 20 msec 40 msec 60 msec

[ba] [ba] [ba] [pa] [pa] [pa]

 Eimas et al. (1971)
p. 227
•  1- & 4-mo-olds
•  Pacifier connected to
pressure sensitive meter.
•  Whenever infant sucks, it
hears a syllable
•  When infants habituate
they suck less often.
•  Switch from old sound to
new sound and see if
sucking rate changes.
 Dishabituation
•  Play infants a new VOT
– either within the category (BA)
– or across the category boundary (PA)

•  Will infants dishabituate (suck

harder)?
 Across-category" Within-category"
change: 20-40 ms" change: 20-0 ms" No change"
 Across-category" Within-category"
change: 20-40 ms" change: 20-0 ms" No change"
 Across-category" Within-category"
change: 20-40 ms" change: 20-0 ms" No change"
 Is CP unique to speech
perception?
No!
•  We have CP for non-speech sounds
•  Animals have CP

•  CP for visual stimuli

 Devel. change
•  Young infants categorically perceive
language sounds used around the world

•  Adults do not:
– R and L in Japanese
–  D sounds in English (vs. Hindi)

•  Adaptation to the native language

–  Around 10-12 m.o.
 Cross-Modal Perception
•  The McGurk Effect
–  Visual info affects speech perception
–  Seeing /ba/ makes it harder to hear /da/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFPtc8BVdJk

•  Infants show the McGurk effect, too!

–  At least by 5 m.o., maybe earlier.
 Music perception
•  Prefer music over other stimuli

•  Great pitch memory!

•  Can remember pieces of music over

weeks.

•  Better at rhythms than adults!

 Next time:
Infant visual perception
http://www2.choralnet.org/268945.html