Assimilation of voices in psychotherapy: The case of Jan.

The authors present a marker-based method for tracking the assimilation of a previously outcast voice into the self, conceived as a community of voices. In a qualitative assimilation analysis of the case of Jan, a woman whose depressive symptoms abated in process experiential psychotherapy, the authors tracked 2 major themes, excerpted 43 relevant passages, and rated each passage on the Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Scale (APES). Ratings by 3 independent raters who used a marker-based APES manual were highly correlated with the investigators' consensus ratings. APES ratings tended to increase across sessions, as expected in successful therapy. The authors present passages to illustrate the assimilation of a voice of neediness and weakness by Jan's dominant superwoman voice and the assimilation of a voice of rebellion and assertiveness by Jan's dominant good-girl voice, yielding a more complex and flexible community. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clients' assimilation of experiences of their therapists.

In this study, we examined how clients internalize their therapists, understanding this phenomenon through the lens of the assimilation model, a theory of psychological change. The assimilation model describes people as comprised of multiple voices, each voice being a representation of interrelated experiences organized around significant people or events. In this study, we interviewed five former psychotherapy clients and asked them to describe how they experienced, and continue to experience, their therapists internally. On the basis of these interviews, we extended the assimilation model by constructing an account of how clients’ experiences of their therapists are internalized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Building a meaning bridge: Therapeutic progress from problem formulation to understanding.

Qualitative analyses of 2 clients' psychotherapies (client centered and process-experiential) investigated the developmental progression from formulating a problem to achieving an understanding of it. The results elaborated one segment in the 8-stage Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Sequence (APES), through which problematic parts of a person (described as voices to emphasize their active, agentic qualities) are thought to pass during successful psychotherapy, as they become assimilated into the self (described as a community of voices). The transition between APES Stage 3 (problem statement/clarification) and APES Stage 4 (understanding/insight) was described as a series of substages. The results highlighted the construction of meaning bridges-semiotic links by which the problematic voice could understand and be understood by voices of the community. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Voicing the self: From information processing to dialogical interchange.

Dialog implies an interchange between mutually influencing voices. Two metaphors playing a major role in contemporary research are analyzed from such a perspective: the computer metaphor, in which the self is studied as an information-processing device, and the narrative metaphor, in which story and storytelling are guiding principles for the self. It is argued that, on the metaphorical level, the computer and the narrative analogy allow voice and intersubjective exchange to play important roles in self-organization. In actual research, however, these elements are neglected. Theoretical and empirical arguments emphasize the relevance of the dialogical view for the study of the self. Finally, the role of dominance in inter- and intrapersonal processes and the relevance of collective voices for contemporary psychology are sketched. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Auditory babble and cognitive efficiency: Role of number of voices and their location.

Four experiments investigated the disruptive effect on short-term memory of irrelevant babble speech. With monaural presentation, 1 voice and 2 voices produced roughly the same degree of disruption, but babble of 6 voices reduced errors significantly. The same pattern was shown when the speech was in a language that the participants did not understand. As the number of voices in the babble was increased from 1 to 6, the function relating the number of voices to errors was monotonic only over part of the range. Allocating each voice to a different spatial location restored its disruptive capacity, compared with a condition where 6 voices came from the 1 location. In practice, the disruptive effect of irrelevant speech will be less where the number of voices is greater (such as in large office spaces), but acoustic conditions that help localization of individual voices will increase disruption. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Suppression of continuity-benevolence assumptions (CBS) voices: A theoretical note on the psychology ad psychotherapy of depression: comment.

Interprets the previously reported case of a 27-yr old woman named Lisa by L. Honos-Webb et al (see record 1998-12176-003). Lisa received process-experiential therapy for depression and her case was interpreted in light of the voiced formulation of the assimilation model. Voices that represent continuity and benevolence assumptions (e.g., the world is good; life is worthwhile; I am a valuable person) are called continuity-benevolence assumptions (CBA) voices. When Lisa's CBA voices encountered experiences of mistreatment by her husband and parents, she became angry, but her anger was opposed by her rigid conviction that "we're all supposed to forgive." The current author proposes that Lisa's (CBA) were suppressed, which reduced the anger but left her depressed (feeling like the world is not good; life is not worthwhile; I am not valuable). In therapy, a new meaning bridge was built between Lisa's values and her CBA voices (forgiveness is important, but anger is sometimes appropriate), allowing her to experience the anger without becoming depressed. Similar patterns may occur in other cases of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Voice identification by nursery school children.

Assessed identification of familiar individuals in 36 nursery school children who completed tests involving the naming of faces and tape-recorded voices, voice-face matching, and backward voice naming. Face naming was vastly superior to all 3 tasks involving voice identification, demonstrating that speaker identification is much more difficult than face identification for young children. Identification by voice naming and voice-face matching did not differ significantly. Accuracy of naming backward voices averaged 73% of that attained with normal voices, indicating that inability to decode linguistic messages does not preclude accurate processing of paralinguistic information by children. Voice identification scores varied widely among all Ss but did not differ significantly between boys and girls. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The perceptual structure of pathologic voice quality

Although perceptual assessment is included in most protocols for evaluating pathologic voices, a standard set of valid scales for measuring voice quality has never been established. Standardization is important for theory and for clinical acceptance, and also because validation of objective measures of voice depends on valid perceptual measures. The present study used large sets (n = 80) of male and female voices, representing a broad range of diagnoses and vocal severities. Eight experts judged the dissimilarity of each pair of voices, and responses were analyzed using nonmetric individual differences multidimensional scaling. Results indicate that differences between listeners in perceptual strategy are so great that the fundamental assumption of a common perceptual space must be questioned. Because standardization depends on the assumption that listeners are similar, it is concluded that efforts to standardize perceptual labels for voice quality are unlikely to succeed. However, analysis by synthesis may provide an alternate means of modeling quality as a function of both voices and listeners, thus avoiding this problem.     

Antimyoclonic effect of gabapentin in a posthypoxic animal model of myoclonus

The perceptual GRBAS scale for deviant voice quality (completed with a "I" parameter: Instability = fluctuation of voice quality over time) was tested in 5 different institutes on 943 voice patients. Each voice was evaluated separately by 2 professionals. The interrater correlation reaches 0.87 for G (grade), 0.70 for R (roughness), 0.69 for B (breathiness) and 0.65 for A/S (asthenicity/strain). Experience with the scale significantly improves the interrater agreement. The intrarater correlation (80 voices; time interval 2-6 months) is systematically slightly stronger than the interrater correlation. Further, GIRBAS/acoustical correlations were investigated on 80 pathological voices, by using the Multidimensional Voice Program (MDVP) of Kay. Principal component analysis allows reduction of 21 MDVP parameters to 5 clinically relevant aspects, with a typical acoustical measurement for each of them. The strongest correlations are found between G and Shimmer/Noise to harmonics ratio, R and Jitter, and B and Shimmer. As tremor and diplophonia are easily identified perceptually and acoustically, it seems useful to add this information respectively to AS and R. The GIRBAS scale seems to be a valuable instrument for clinical practice.     

Inadequacy of voice recognition as a demonstration of self-deception.

R. C. Gur and H. A. Sackeim (see record 1980-25654-001) argued that Ss deceived themselves when they failed to recognize their own voices on playback from a tape recorder. It is suggested that even though Ss may not consciously recognize their own voices, a heightened physiological response implies that true recognition did in fact occur at some other level of cognitive processing. The present study with 30 female Australian undergraduates showed that results similar to those arrived at by Gur and Sackeim can also be produced when Ss attempt to recognize the voice of a familiar "other." These results suggest that self-deception is not the main factor operating to produce the heightened physiological response. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An analysis-by-synthesis approach to the estimation of vocal cord polyp features

This paper deals with a new noninvasive method of estimating vocal cord polyp features through hoarse-voice analysis. A noteworthy feature of this method is that it enables us not only to discriminate hoarse voices caused by pathological vocal cords with a single golf-ball-like polyp from normal voices, but also to estimate polyp features such as the mass and dimension of polyp through the use of a novel model of pathological vocal cords which has been devised to simulate the subtle movement of the vocal cords. A synthetic hoarse voice produced with a hoarse-voice synthesizer is compared with a natural hoarse voice caused by the vocal cord polyp in terms of a distance measure and the polyp features are estimated by minimizing the distance measure. Some estimates of polyp dimension that have been obtained by applying this procedure to hoarse voices are found to compare favorably with actual polyp dimensions, demonstrating that the procedure is effective for estimating the features of golf-ball-like vocal cord polyps.     

On the recollection of specific- and partial-source information

Memory judgments can be based on information that is more or less specific with respect to the source of an item. The authors introduce a procedure and multinomial model for measuring specific- and partial-source information. In 2 experiments, participants heard words spoken by 4 different voices: 2 male voices and 2 female voices. During the test, participants were required to remember who spoke the test items (e.g., Male 1, Male 2, Female 1, Female 2, or new word). Participants often remembered information about the gender of the source (i.e., partial-source information) when they did not remember information that identified the source itself (i.e., specific-source information). Dividing attention during retrieval impaired participants' memory for specific-source information (i.e., voice information) but did not affect memory for partial-source information (i.e., gender information).     

Talker Variability and Recognition Memory: Instance-Specific and Voice-Specific Effects.

The author investigated voice context effects in recognition memory for words spoken by multiple talkers by comparing performance when studied words were repeated with same, different, or new voices at test. Hits and false alarms increased when words were tested with studied voices compared with unstudied voices. Discrimination increased only when the exact same voice was used. A trend toward conservatism in response bias was observed when test words switched to increasingly unfamiliar voices. Taken together, the overall findings suggest that the voice-specific attributes of individual talkers are preserved in long-term memory. Implications for the role of instance-specific matching and voice-specific familiarity processes and the nature of spoken-word representation are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The self salience model of other-to-self effects: Integrating principles of self-enhancement, complementarity, and imitation.

In a series of studies the Self Salience Model of other-to-self effects is tested. This model posits that self-construal salience is an important determinant of whether other-to-self effects follow the principles of self-enhancement, imitation, or complementarity. Participants imagined interactions (Studies 1 and 2) or were confronted (Studies 3 to 5) with dominant, submissive, agreeable, or quarrelsome person targets. Findings support the prediction that subsequent self-evaluations (Studies 1 to 3) and behaviors (Studies 4 and 5) follow the principles of self-enhancement when the personal self is activated (contrast away from undesirable targets, assimilation toward desirable targets); the principles of complementarity when the relational self is activated (contrast on the dominant-submissive dimension, assimilation on the agreeable-quarrelsome dimension); and the principles of imitation when the collective self is activated (assimilation regardless of desirability or dimension). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A nonverbal signal in voices of interview partners effectively predicts communication accommodation and social status perceptions.

Derivations from nonverbal communications accommodation theory are tested, and this knowledge is extended both theoretically and methodologically. Fast fourier transform and statistical analysis of a low-frequency nonverbal signal in voices from 25 dyadic interviews between a talk show host and his guests revealed voice convergence between partners. Correlation coefficients from comparisons of partners' voice spectra and factor analysis of the correlation matrix showed that lower status partners accommodated their voices to higher status partners via the nonverbal signal. Student ratings of the social status of the same talk show host and guests were correlated with factor loadings, thereby providing convergent validity of the nonverbal signal as a predictor of social status perceptions and accommodation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of talker familiarity on spoken word identification in younger and older listeners.

The present study was designed to examine age differences in the ability to use voice information acquired intentionally (Experiment 1) or incidentally (Experiment 2) as an aid to spoken word identification. Following both implicit and explicit voice learning, participants were asked to identify novel words spoken either by familiar talkers (ones they had been exposed to in the training phase) or by 4 unfamiliar voices. In both experiments, explicit memory for talkers' voices was significantly lower in older than in young listeners. Despite this age-related decline in voice recognition, however, older adults exhibited equivalent, and in some cases greater, benefit than young listeners from having words spoken by familiar talkers. Implications of the findings for age-related changes in explicit versus implicit memory systems are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impracticalities of R. B. Stuart's practical multicultural competencies.

Comment in response to Stuart's recent article (see record 2004-10365-001) on multicultural competence. This comment includes three distinct voices. One voice is of a Brazilian woman, living in the United States, who experienced a visceral reaction to the article. The second voice is from a European American man who appreciates Stuart's efforts but is troubled by a disguised ideology that possibly objectifies culture and ignores sociopolitical realities. The third voice is from an Italian-Catholic-Austrian-Jewish man who can see himself and his clinical psychology training in what he considers Stuart's Western/White-male scientific multicultural metatheory. To the three of us, the practical suggestions Stuart offered seem useful, on the surface. However, we fear that when put into practice, these suggestions could not only be culturally insensitive, but in extreme cases might undermine some of the important progress made in the field of multicultural psychology over the past 2 decades. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of nationality on the accuracy of face and voice recognition

Sixty English and U.S. citizens were tested to determine the effect of nationality on accuracy in recognizing previously witnessed faces and voices. Subjects viewed a frontal facial photograph and were then asked to select that face from a set of 10 oblique facial photographs. Subjects listened to a recorded voice and were then asked to select the same voice from a set of 10 voice recordings. This process was repeated 7 more times, such that subjects identified a male and female face and voice from England, France, Belize, and the United States. Subjects demonstrated better accuracy recognizing the faces and voices of their own nationality. Subgoups analysis further supported the other-nationality effect as well as the previously documented other-race effect.     

Is the placebo control obsolete in a world after donepezil and vitamin E?

Recent clinical trials of donepezil and vitamin E have produced active therapeutic drugs for the treatment of patients with Alzheimer disease (AD). The AD research community is now in a gray zone between the absence of accepted therapies and the presence of completely effective therapies. How should these therapies guide the choice of the proper control for future AD clinical trials? The community equipoise principle can guide a process to answer this question. The principle is that a clinical trial should answer clinical questions that are valued by the community who will use the results of that trial. This means that the choice of the proper control for future AD clinical trials ought to be guided by the values of a community who will experience the results of those trials: physicians and patients or their representatives such as caregivers. The values of patients can be included by giving them a voice in the design and review of clinical trials. Community dialogue should be the norm for the design and review of AD clinical trials. We conclude with suggestions to foster this dialogue and issues that should be addressed.     

Comparison of voice analysis systems for perturbation measurement

Dysphonic voices are often analyzed using automated voice analysis software. However, the reliability of acoustic measures obtained from these programs remains unknown, particularly when they are applied to pathological voices. This study compared perturbation measures from CSpeech, Computerized Speech Laboratory, SoundScope, and a hand marking voice analysis system. Sustained vowels from 29 male and 21 female speakers with mild to severe dysphonia were digitized, and fundamental frequency (F0), jitter, shimmer, and harmonics- or signal-to-noise ratios were computed. Commercially available acoustical analysis programs agreed well, but not perfectly, in their measures of F0. Measures of perturbation in the various analysis packages use different algorithms, provide results in different units, and often yield values for voices that violate the assumption of quasi-periodicity. As a result, poor rank order correlations between programs using similar measures of perturbation were noted. Because measures of aperiodicity apparently cannot be reliably applied to voices that are even mildly aperiodic, we question their utility in quantifying vocal quality, especially in pathological voices.