Temporal coordination and adaptation to rate change in music performance.

People often coordinate their actions with sequences that exhibit temporal variability and unfold at multiple periodicities. We compared oscillator- and timekeeper-based accounts of temporal coordination by examining musicians' coordination of rhythmic musical sequences with a metronome that gradually changed rate at the end of a musical phrase (Experiment 1) or at the beginning of a phrase (Experiment 2). The rhythms contained events that occurred at the same periodic rate as the metronome and at half the period. Rate change consisted of a linear increase or decrease in intervals between metronome onsets. Musicians coordinated their performances better with a metronome that decreased than increased in tempo (as predicted by an oscillator model), at both beginnings and ends of musical phrases. Model performance was tested with an oscillator period or timekeeper interval set to the same period as the metronome (1:1 coordination) or half the metronome period (2:1 coordination). Only the oscillator model was able to predict musicians' coordination at both periods. These findings suggest that coordination is based on internal neural oscillations that entrain to external sequences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The dynamics of bimanual circle drawing

A bimanual circle drawing task was employed to elucidate the dynamics of intralimb and interlimb coordination. Right-handed subjects were required to produce circles with both hands in either a symmetrical (mirror) mode (i.e. one hand moving clockwise, the other counter-clockwise) or in an asymmetrical mode (i.e. both hands moving clockwise or counter-clockwise). The frequency of movement was scaled by an auditory metronome from 1.50 Hz to 3.25 Hz in 8 (8-sec) steps. In the asymmetrical mode, distortions of the movement trajectories, transient departures from the target pattern of coordination, and phase wandering were evidence as movement frequency was increased. These features suggested loss of stability. Deviations from circular trajectories were most prominent for movements of the left hand. Transient departures from the required mode of coordination were also largely precipitated by the left hand. The results are discussed with reference to manual asymmetries and mechanisms of interlimb and intersegmental coordination.     

Brief bimanual force pulses: Correlations between the hands in force and time.

Three experiments assessed coupling phenomena in the coordination of bimanual force pulses. Experiment 1 required symmetric force pulses (equal target forces and rise times for both hands) using the index finger of each hand. As the authors expected, on the basis of bimanual pointing movement results, this experiment revealed positive correlations between both the force rise times and the force amplitudes of the two hands. Experiments 2 and 3 included asymmetric conditions with different target force amplitudes (Experiment 2) or target rise times (Experiment 3). In Experiment 2 force amplitudes but not rise times were fully decoupled in the asymmetric condition. In the asymmetric condition of Experiment 3, however, neither rise times nor force amplitudes were fully decoupled. The results suggest a hierarchical control structure with temporal control dominating nontemporal control of bimanual force coordination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rhythms that speed you up.

This study investigates whether a rhythm can orient attention to specific moments enhancing people's reaction times (RT). We used a modified version of the temporal orienting paradigm in which an auditory isochronous rhythm was presented prior to an auditory single target. The rhythm could have a fast pace (450 ms Inter-Onset-Interval or IOI) or a slow pace (950 ms IOI). The target was presented after a variable foreperiod of either 200, 400, 900, 1400, or 1600 ms following the offset of the rhythm. In Experiment 1, the rhythmic pace validly predicted the moment of target appearance; i.e., the target appeared after a foreperiod that matched the rhythmic pace on 60% of the trials. The results showed an effect on RT performance of the fast rhythmic pace compared to the slow rhythmic pace at the 200 and 400 ms foreperiods, while no effects were found at the long foreperiods, probably due to a foreperiod effect. In Experiment 2, non-predictive rhythmic paces did not modulate the foreperiod effect. The addition of temporal uncertainty by including catch trials in Experiment 3 clearly unveiled the effect of non-predictive rhythmic pace at short and long foreperiods. Taken together, the results of the experiments reported here highlight the ability of rhythms to orient temporal attention enhancing participants' response speed not only at short intervals but also at long time intervals, suggesting the involvement of a flexible mechanism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence for episodic retrieval of inadequate prime responses in auditory negative priming.

Four experiments are reported in which the mechanisms underlying auditory negative priming were investigated. In Experiments 1A and 1B, preprime-prime intervals and prime-probe intervals were manipulated. The ratio between the 2 intervals determined the size of the negative priming effect. Results are compatible with the episodic retrieval account, according to which the retrieval of inappropriate response information associated with the previous distractor slows down responding when that stimulus becomes the target. Experiment 2 tested a variant of this account, according to which the retrieval of the prime response rather than the retrieval of nonresponse information interferes with responding. Consistent with this variant, participants erroneously responded with the prime response more frequently in the ignored repetition condition than in the control condition. Experiment 3 replicated this finding and generalized it to the visual modality. The authors conclude that the retrieval of the inappropriate prime response is a determinant of the negative priming phenomenon. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Graft decentration in penetrating keratoplasty: nonmechanical trephination with the excimer laser (193 nm) versus the motor trephine

Seven right-handed participants performed bimanual circling movements in either a symmetrical or an asymmetrical coordination mode. Movements were paced with an auditory metronome at predetermined frequencies corresponding to transition frequency, where asymmetrical patterns became unstable, or at two-thirds transition frequency where both symmetrical and asymmetrical patterns were stable. The pacing tones were presented in either a high (1000 Hz) or low (500 Hz) pitch, and the percentage of high-pitched tones during a 20 s trial varied between 0% and 70%. Participants were instructed to count the number of high-pitched pacing tones that occurred during a trial of bimanual circling. Overall, the symmetrical pattern was more stable than the asymmetrical pattern at both frequencies. Errors on the tone-counting task were significantly higher during asymmetrical circling than symmetrical circling but only at the transition movement frequency. The results suggest that cognitive processes play a role in maintaining coordination patterns within regions of instability.     

Constraints on the selection of auditory information.

Four experiments were conducted to determine whether or not (a) selection of auditory information may be guided separately by location and frequency channels and (b) auditory attention is allocated to spatial locations and frequency regions or to auditory objects (i.e., streams). In Experiment 1, listeners were to categorize tones by location or frequency. In Experiments 2A and 2B, target identification was examined as a function of its similarity to a precue. In Experiment 3, the time required to detect a target embedded within a sequence of distractor tones was examined. In all experiments, performance depended on both location and frequency information even if 1 of these features was completely irrelevant with respect to the task. Results indicate that selection of auditory information is accomplished by an attentional template normally defined by both location and frequency parameters. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Eye-head coordination toward auditory and visual targets in humans

Eye-head coordination during gaze orientation toward auditory targets in total darkness has been examined in human subjects. The findings have been compared, for the same subjects, with those obtained by using visual targets. The use of auditory targets when investigating eye-head coordination has some advantages with respect to the more common use of visual targets: (i) more eccentric target positions can be presented to the subject; (ii) visual feedback is excluded during the execution of gaze displacement; (iii) complex patterns of saccadic responses can be elicited. This last aspect is particularly interesting for examining the coupling between the eyes and the head displacements. The experimental findings indicate that during gaze orientation toward a visual or an auditory target the central nervous system adopts the same strategy of using both the saccadic mechanism and the head motor plant. In spite of a common strategy, qualitative and quantitative parameters of the resulting eye-head coordination are slightly different, depending on the nature of the target. The findings relating to patterns of eye-head coordination seem to indicate a dissociation between the eyes and the head, which receive different motor commands independently generated from the gaze error signal. The experimental findings reported in this paper have been summarized in a model of the gaze control system that makes use of a gaze feedback hypothesis through the central reconstruction of the eye and head positions.     

Effects of response task and accessory stimuli on redundancy gain: Tests of the hemispheric coactivation model.

Two experiments tested predictions of the hemispheric coactivation model for redundancy gain (J. O. Miller, 2004). Simple reaction time was measured in divided attention tasks with visual stimuli presented to the left or right of fixation or redundantly to both sides. Experiment 1 tested the prediction that redundancy gain--the decrease in reaction time when 2 stimuli are presented rather than 1--should increase when the response requires a greater degree of bilateral control by both hemispheres. In different blocks, the response was made with the left hand, the right hand, or both hands simultaneously. In accordance with the model, redundancy gain was larger with bimanual than with unimanual responses. Experiment 2 tested and found support for the prediction that redundancy gain should decrease when both hemispheres are activated by an irrelevant auditory accessory stimulus. Thus, the results support the hemispheric coactivation model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Switching in the cocktail party: Exploring intentional control of auditory selective attention.

Using a novel variant of dichotic selective listening, we examined the control of auditory selective attention. In our task, subjects had to respond selectively to one of two simultaneously presented auditory stimuli (number words), always spoken by a female and a male speaker, by performing a numerical size categorization. The gender of the task-relevant speaker could change, as indicated by a visual cue prior to auditory stimulus onset. Three experiments show clear performance costs with instructed attention switches. Experiment 2 varied the cuing interval to examine advance preparation for an attention switch. Experiment 3 additionally isolated auditory switch costs from visual cue priming by using two cues for each gender, so that gender repetition could be indicated by a changed cue. Experiment 2 showed that switch costs decreased with prolonged cuing intervals, but Experiment 3 revealed that preparation did not affect auditory switch costs but only visual cue priming. Moreover, incongruent numerical categories in competing auditory stimuli produced interference and substantially increased error rates, suggesting continued processing of task-relevant information that often leads to responding to the incorrect auditory source. Together, the data show clear limitations in advance preparation of auditory attention switches and suggest a considerable degree of inertia in intentional control of auditory selection criteria. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perception and production of temporal intervals across a range of durations: Evidence for a common timing mechanism.

Study participants performed time perception and production tasks over a set of 4 intervals ranging from 325 to 550 ms. In 3 experiments, variability on both the production and perception tasks was found to be linearly related to the square of the target intervals. If the perception and production of short temporal intervals use a common timing mechanism, the slopes of the functions for the 2 tasks should be identical. The results of Experiment 1 failed to support this prediction. However, when the 2 tasks were made more similar by providing a single (Experiment 2) or multiple (Experiment 3) presentations of the target interval per judgment or production, the perception and production functions were nearly identical. The results suggest that temporal judgments and productions are based on an integrated internal representation of the target interval rather than reference to an internal oscillatory process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Auditory objects of attention: The role of interaural time differences.

The role of interaural time difference (ITD) in perceptual grouping and selective attention was explored in 3 experiments. Experiment 1 showed that listeners can use small differences in ITD between 2 sentences to say which of 2 short, constant target words was part of the attended sentence, in the absence of talker or fundamental frequency differences. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that listeners do not explicitly track components that share a common ITD. Their inability to segregate a harmonic from a target vowel by a difference in ITD was not substantially changed by the vowel being placed in a sentence context, where the sentence shared the same ITD as the rest of the vowel. The results indicate that in following a particular auditory sound source over time, listeners attend to perceived auditory objects at particular azimuthal positions rather than attend explicitly to those frequency components that share a common ITD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do Muscles Matter for Coordinated Action?

This article investigates coordination stability when 2 fingers of each hand periodically tap together. The main question concerns the functional origin of the symmetry tendency, which has widely been conceived as a bias toward coactivation of homologous fingers and homologous muscular portions. In Experiment 1, the symmetry tendency was independent of finger combination. In Experiment 2, virtually identical stability characteristics were revealed under full vision and no vision. In Experiment 3, symmetrical and parallel visual labels on the fingers neither stabilized nor destabilized symmetrical and parallel tapping patterns. In Experiment 4, in which the relative position of the hands was varied, it revealed that the observed stability characteristics are to be defined in a hand-centered reference frame. Because the symmetry tendency was always independent of finger combination, the authors suggest that it is not a bias toward coactivation of homologous muscle portions but instead originates on a more abstract, functional level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sonification design for complex work domains: Dimensions and distractors.

Sonification—representing data in sound—is a potential method for supporting human operators who have to monitor dynamic processes. Previous research has investigated a limited number of sound dimensions and has not systematically investigated the impact of dimensional interactions on sonification effectiveness. In three experiments the authors investigated accuracy for identifying changes in six target auditory dimensions of a continuous pulse stream under three conditions: no distractor, one distractor, and five distractors. In Experiment 1 amplitude, frequency, harmonics, speed, tremolo (cycles per pulse), and width were tested. Accuracy and patterns of interaction between the dimensions were mapped. In Experiment 2 the same dimensions were tested but tremolo was operationalized as cycles per second (Hz). The patterns of interaction between the temporal dimensions differed from Experiment 1. In Experiment 3 the amplitude contour of the pulse stream was changed. The dimensions tested were amplitude, frequency, formants, speed, tremolo (cycles per period), and width. Results showed low accuracy for formants and many interactions, both positive and negative between the dimensions. The authors interpret the results in terms of theories of perceptual interference in auditory dimensions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Benefits and Limits of Explicit Counting for Discriminating Temporal Intervals.

Compares the benefits of using explicit counting in a temporal discrimination task under various marker-type conditions and shows the limits of this strategy. In Experiment 1, conditions with and without counting were compared for two implicit standard durations, .8 and 1.6 s, in connection with three markertype conditions, which were intervals marked by: 1) two brief auditory signals (Auditory-Auditory); 2) two brief visual signals (Visual-Visual); and 3) one auditory signal followed by a visual signal (Auditory-Visual). At .8 s, markertype differences are significant (best in audition, worse with a bimodal sequence), and remain present with an explicit counting strategy. At 1.6 s, explicit counting provides clear improvements of performance in all marker-type conditions and annihilates marker-related differences. Experiment 1 also suggests that standard deviation remains constant in the counting condition, while Experiment 2 shows that when standard intervals are extended, explicit counting does not totally prevent variance from increasing as duration becomes longer. The benefits of explicit counting in duration discrimination are argued to depend (1) on a reduction of variance in the memory process in the timing mechanism, and (2) on a change in the decisional process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Information processing in Stroop-like picture naming tasks by preschool children

This study examined the difference between preschool (6-year-olds) children and adults in semantic information processing in line-drawn picture naming, using two types of Stroop-like picture naming tasks. In Experiment 1, voices (i.e., lexical information), and in Experiment 2, pictures (i.e., semantic information) were used as distracters. Subjects were asked to name target pictures as quickly as possible, ignoring distracters. To clarify the effect of semantic relations on the amount of interference, four types of target-distracter semantic relations were used as experimental conditions: same stimulus (SS), same category (SC), different category (DC), and control (C). To investigate the time course of processing, stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between target and distracter was varied. The results indicated that the patterns of reaction time showed more remarkable difference between children and adults in Experiment 1 than in Experiment 2. These results were discussed on the basis of Glaser and Glaser (1989)'s model in which semantic memory and lexicon were separate.     

Input and central processing expressed in ERP and heart rate changes to rare target and rare nontarget stimuli

Whether late positive components of event-related potentials (ERPs) parallel changes in heart rate (HR) indicative of attention/orienting to rare stimuli has been debated. In the present study, a three-stimulus design was used, with rare target, rare nontarget, and frequent standard stimuli delivered under identical conditions except that instructions to subjects described the targets to which subjects should respond but did not describe the nontargets. In Experiment 1, stimuli varied among modalities; in Experiment 2, auditory stimuli were employed. Both ERPs and HR were consistent with automatic processing preceding two stages of controlled processing. Rare stimuli evoked larger parietal P300 and initial HR deceleration than standards. Presumably because of load-reducing effects of long interstimulus intervals, targets and nontargets were not distinguished before a late slow wave and a late phase of HR acceleration. Neither rare stimulus elicited a recognizable frontal P3a.     

Sound enhances visual perception: Cross-modal effects of auditory organization on vision.

Six experiments demonstrated cross-modal influences from the auditory modality on the visual modality at an early level of perceptual organization. Participants had to detect a visual target in a rapidly changing sequence of visual distractors. A high tone embedded in a sequence of low tones improved detection of a synchronously presented visual target (Experiment 1), but the effect disappeared when the high tone was presented before the target (Experiment 2). Rhythmically based or order-based anticipation was unlikely to account for the effect because the improvement was unaffected by whether there was jitter (Experiment 3) or a random number of distractors between successive targets (Experiment 4). The facilitatory effect was greatly reduced when the tone was less abrupt and part of a melody (Experiments 5 and 6). These results show that perceptual organization in the auditory modality can have an effect on perceptibility in the visual modality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The attentional blink across stimulus modalities: Evidence for central processing limitations.

When participants are asked to report a visual target and find a subsequent visual probe, a deficit in probe report accuracy is usually found during an interval of several hundred milliseconds after the target. This attentional blink (AB) deficit has often been attributed to a uniquely visual limitation. In this research, targets and probes were created and defined in terms of auditory information. Target modality (visual or auditory) was fully crossed with probe modality (visual or auditory). In Experiment 1, a robust AB, found in all modality conditions, was equally large for cross-modality and within-modality target and probe combinations. Experiments 2 and 3 ruled out two alternative explanations for cross-modal blinks. Experiment 4 showed that as the rate of presentation was slowed, the AB for auditory probes attenuated more quickly than for visual probes. Results are discussed in terms of a central (amodal) limitation of attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluation of an imputed pitch velocity model of the auditory kappa effect.

Three experiments evaluated an imputed pitch velocity model of the auditory kappa effect. Listeners heard 3-tone sequences and judged the timing of the middle (target) tone relative to the timing of the 1st and 3rd (bounding) tones. Experiment 1 held pitch constant but varied the time (T) interval between bounding tones (T = 728, 1,000, or 1,600 ms) in order to establish baseline performance levels for the 3 values of T. Experiments 2 and 3 combined the values of T tested in Experiment 1 with a pitch manipulation in order to create fast (8 semitones/728 ms), medium (8 semitones/1,000 ms), and slow (8 semitones/1,600 ms) velocity conditions. Consistent with an auditory motion hypothesis, distortions in perceived timing were larger for fast than for slow velocity conditions for both ascending sequences (Experiment 2) and descending sequences (Experiment 3). Overall, results supported the proposed imputed pitch velocity model of the auditory kappa effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)