Influence of amplitude regarding finger force on loudness discrimination acuity of self-generated sound

International audienc

Rapid Change in Articulatory Lip Movement Induced by Preceding Auditory Feedback during Production of Bilabial Plosives

BACKGROUND: There has been plentiful evidence of kinesthetically induced rapid compensation for unanticipated perturbation in speech articulatory movements. However, the role of auditory information in stabilizing articulation has been little studied except for the control of voice fundamental frequency, voice amplitude and vowel formant frequencies. Although the influence of auditory information on the articulatory control process is evident in unintended speech errors caused by delayed auditory feedback, the direct and immediate effect of auditory alteration on the movements of articulators has not been clarified. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: This work examined whether temporal changes in the auditory feedback of bilabial plosives immediately affects the subsequent lip movement. We conducted experiments with an auditory feedback alteration system that enabled us to replace or block speech sounds in real time. Participants were asked to produce the syllable /pa/ repeatedly at a constant rate. During the repetition, normal auditory feedback was interrupted, and one of three pre-recorded syllables /pa/, /Φa/, or /pi/, spoken by the same participant, was presented once at a different timing from the anticipated production onset, while no feedback was presented for subsequent repetitions. Comparisons of the labial distance trajectories under altered and normal feedback conditions indicated that the movement quickened during the short period immediately after the alteration onset, when /pa/ was presented 50 ms before the expected timing. Such change was not significant under other feedback conditions we tested. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The earlier articulation rapidly induced by the progressive auditory input suggests that a compensatory mechanism helps to maintain a constant speech rate by detecting errors between the internally predicted and actually provided auditory information associated with self movement. The timing- and context-dependent effects of feedback alteration suggest that the sensory error detection works in a temporally asymmetric window where acoustic features of the syllable to be produced may be coded

Influence of amplitude regarding finger force on loudness discrimination acuity of self-generated sound

International audienc

An investigation of Literacy on Humor Messages of Mass Media among Junior High Students

目的：探討國中生對大眾媒體傳播之幽默訊息的識讀能力，並進一步找出相關因素。 方法：利用「媒體與人際傳播之幽默訊息對國中生幽默表現的影響研究」計畫之資料庫，進行次級資料分析。前述計畫係自臺灣的北、中、南、東四個地區選出5所國民中學，然後從各所學校的一至三年級分別抽出一個班級，結果有60個班級共1,927名學生成為本研究樣本。扣除調查時拒絕者後，實際完訪樣本共1,746人 (男生916人；女生830人)。本研究分析的變項包括幽默訊息識讀能力、性別、年級、父母婚姻、家人互動等。除描述研究樣本的幽默訊息識讀能力外，另採用線性複迴歸分析找出相關變項。 結果：1.整體而言，研究樣本中有85.57%的人，其幽默訊息識讀能力屬「中等」或「偏低」。在幽默訊息識讀能力的三個次指標中，以「覺察勸服能力」的得分最高；「批判是非能力」的得分次之；「區辨真假能力」的得分最差。2.幽默訊息識讀能力較高者，主要為就讀國中二年級；居住於北、中或南部者；學業表現屬前段者；外向程度較低者；母親教育程度較高者；家庭經濟程度較高者；父母及老師負向幽默表現程度較低者；同儕負向幽默表現程度較高者。 結論：1. 目前國中生對於大眾媒體傳播之幽默訊息的識讀能力不佳，需透過各種管道提供他們學習的機會。例如學校老師可藉由相關的教學活動，加強其分析大眾媒體傳播之幽默訊息的能力，也就是具有區辨真假、覺察勸服、及批判是非的技巧。又如，父母陪伴子女觀賞或閱讀大眾媒體傳播之訊息時，可引導他解讀及分析其中的幽默訊息。2.學校老師及父母可以針對幽默訊息識讀能力較低者，如就讀較低年級、居住於東部、學業表現屬後段者、家庭經濟程度較低者等，特別加強幽默訊息識讀能力的學習。3.大眾媒體提供者，應規劃富有正向意義的幽默訊息，幫助青少年學習正確的幽默表現方式。Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree of literacy on humor messages disseminated through mass media among junior high school students, as well as investigating correlated factors. Method: The data derived from the “Effect of humor messages disseminated by various communication channels on junior high school students’ humor styles project” was used for secondary data analysis. Sampling procedures included a random drawing of 5 schools from each of four areas of Taiwan: Northern, Central, Southern and Eastern, followed by a random selection of one class among first, second and third grades respectively. The total number of students from the selected 60 classes resulted in a sample size of 1,927 adolescents. After excluding those who did not give informed consents, a total of 1,746 adolescents completed the questionnaire (916 boys; 830 girls). The research variables included degree of literacy on humor messages, gender, school grade, marital status of parents, family interaction and so on. Statistical analysis included univariate description of the degree of literacy on humor messages; multiple linear regression analysis is used to identify the correlated variables. Results: 1) 85.57% of subjects having their degree of literacy on humor messages assessed as either “medium” or “low”. Among the three sub-indicators of literacy on humor messages, “the ability to perceive persuasive meaning” scored as the highest, followed by “the ability to criticize messages correctly”; while “the ability to distinguish messages between true and false “ scored as the worst. 2) adolescents who received higher scores on literacy on humor messages were mainly those who studied in the second year (contrasted to first year);, lived in the northern, central, or southern Taiwan (contrasted to Eastern Taiwan); having better academic performance (contrasted to less excellent); less outgoing (contrasted to more outgoing); had higher maternal education level (contrasted to lower maternal education level); had higher family economic status (contrasted to lower family economic status); have parents and teachers that are more likely to react toward negative humor style (contrasted to less likely to react toward negative humor styles); and finally, having friends that were less likely to react toward negative humor style (contrasted to more likely to react toward negative humor styles). Conclusions: 1) The degree of literacy on humor messages disseminated through mass media among junior high school students is still poor, indicating a necessity for increased provision of learning opportunities through various methods. For example, school teachers may enhance students’ ability to analyze humor messages by using various teaching activities, so that students can distinguish messages between truths and false, perceive persuasive meanings in the messages, and criticize messages correctly. Parents may help students interpret humor messages when accompanying their children in watching or reading messages disseminated through mass media. 2) It is suggested that teachers and parents should identify students with higher risk of lower literacy (for example, those who studied in lower year; lived in Eastern Taiwan; have less excellent academic performance; had lower family economic status.) and give earlier intervention. 3. It is suggested that the mass media providers should provide humor messages with positive meanings, rather than negative connotations, so as to educate adolescents the way to display correct humor

Precise force controls enhance loudness discrimination of self-generated sound

International audienceMotor executions alter sensory processes. Studies have shown that loudness perception changes when a sound is generated by active movement. However, it is still unknown where and how the motor-related changes in loudness perception depend on the task demand of motor execution. We examined whether different levels of precision demands in motor control affects loudness perception. We carried out a loudness discrimination test, in which the sound stimulus was produced in conjunction with the force generation task. We tested three target force amplitude levels. The force target was presented on a monitor as a fixed visual target. The generated force was also presented on the same monitor as a movement of the visual cursor. Participants adjusted their force amplitude in a predetermined range without overshooting using these visual targets and moving cursor. In the control condition, the sound and visual stimuli were generated externally (without a force generation task). We found that the discrimination performance was significantly improved when the sound was produced by the force generation task compared to the control condition, in which the sound was produced externally, although we did not find that this improvement in discrimination performance changed depending on the different target force amplitude levels. The results suggest that the demand for precise control to produce a fixed amount of force may be key to obtaining the facilitatory effect of motor execution in auditory processes

Speech Misperception: Speaking and Seeing Interfere Differently with Hearing

<div><p>Speech perception is thought to be linked to speech motor production. This linkage is considered to mediate multimodal aspects of speech perception, such as audio-visual and audio-tactile integration. However, direct coupling between articulatory movement and auditory perception has been little studied. The present study reveals a clear dissociation between the effects of a listener’s own speech action and the effects of viewing another’s speech movements on the perception of auditory phonemes. We assessed the intelligibility of the syllables [pa], [ta], and [ka] when listeners silently and simultaneously articulated syllables that were congruent/incongruent with the syllables they heard. The intelligibility was compared with a condition where the listeners simultaneously watched another’s mouth producing congruent/incongruent syllables, but did not articulate. The intelligibility of [ta] and [ka] were degraded by <i>articulating</i> [ka] and [ta] respectively, which are associated with the same primary articulator (tongue) as the heard syllables. But they were not affected by <i>articulating</i> [pa], which is associated with a different primary articulator (lips) from the heard syllables. In contrast, the intelligibility of [ta] and [ka] was degraded by <i>watching</i> the production of [pa]. These results indicate that the articulatory-induced distortion of speech perception occurs in an articulator-specific manner while visually induced distortion does not. The articulator-specific nature of the auditory-motor interaction in speech perception suggests that speech motor processing directly contributes to our ability to hear speech.</p> </div

Effects of incongruent subtasks on syllable intelligibility.

<p>The mean and standard error (N = 10) of the correct response rates for auditory stimuli [pa], [ta], and [ka] when silently articulating (motor) and watching (visual) incongruent syllables, subtracted from their corresponding control levels, are shown.</p

Auditory stimulus and subtask.

<p>The auditory stimulus was embedded in white noise to exclude the possibility of participants hearing their own speech under the motor condition, where the signal-to-noise ratio was set at 5 dB. The noise was faded in and out linearly over 0.5 s. The stimulus was preceded by four clicks at 0.67 s intervals, which provided the participants with a cue to silently articulate a syllable under the motor condition. Under the motor condition, the syllables to be articulated by the participants were first presented visually in Japanese characters, which then disappeared at the second click. The participants silently articulated syllables three times in time with the third and fourth clicks and the onset of the stimulus. Under the visual condition, videos of a speaker’s face producing syllables were presented, which were synchronized with the auditory stimulus. The initial frame of each video was presented from the noise onset to the stimulus onset.</p