Deborah Fu
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Anahita Mehta
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery / Medicine
Program:
Authors: Deborah Fu, Mason Shields, Carolyn Kroger, Anahita Mehta
Session: Session 1: 9:00 am – 9:50 am
Poster: 27
Abstract
Auditory features such as pitch, space, and onset timing serve as cues for grouping sequential sounds as part of an auditory object or stream. These spectrotemporal cues interact perceptually such that changes in one feature dimension can distort judgments within other dimensions. One known auditory illusion is the Kappa Effect, whereby larger pitch changes lead to the perception of larger inter-onset time intervals among sequential tones. The present study consist of two experiments that aim to 1) test the prevailing auditory motion hypothesis against a competing perceptual grouping hypothesis to explanation the auditory kappa effect and 2) establish novel kappa effects for spatial location. In both experiments, participants heard 3-sound rhythms with the first and third sounds having fixed timing and pitch, or spatial separation. The second (target) sound varied in timing and one other feature. Participants made rhythmic judgments by responding “short-long” if the target was perceived to be closer in time to the first sound or “long-short” if the target was closer to the third. Experiment 1 manipulated the predictability of single-pitch contours and Experiment 2 manipulated spatial trajectories. Results of experiment 1 show a kappa effect even when pitch contours are unpredictable and results of experiment 2 establish an auditory spatial kappa effect. Both experiments will be discussed in terms of support for each hypothesis and the generalizability of kappa effects across auditory features. These results inform our understanding of how listeners use different auditory features to group events and form perceptual objects and streams.
