Effect of visual deprivation on depth discrimination of hooded rats.

In a study with hooded rats (N = 530), Ss raised in the dark were compared to light-reared controls. 21-day-old dark-reared (DR) Ss were not different from controls in the discrimination of 4-in depths, but 30-day-old DR Ss were deficient. 60-day-old DR Ss were deficient in discriminating 4-, 6-, and 8-in depths. 30-day-old DR Ss recovered the loss in depth discrimination after 48 hrs in the light. 60-day-old DR Ss had no noticeable recovery to the 4-in depth discrimination, but they did recover discrimination of the 6-in depth after 72 hrs in the light. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of auditory deprivation on successive processing.

Reviews the literature on sequential memory in hearing impaired Ss, focusing on successivity and successive processing using the model of cognitive processing proposed by J. Das et al (1979, see also PA, Vol 53:8767). Results suggest that the syntactic processing of English is so difficult for deaf students because, while deaf individuals are able to use successive processing, the processing of linguistic information may be different in deaf children and adults than in the hearing. The spatial bias of deaf individuals seems to result in a decreased emphasis on temporal ordering. Implications for the development of speech and reading English by prelingual profoundly deaf students are discussed. (French abstract) (65 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of visual deprivation on development of depth perception in the rat.

Compared the behavior of light- and dark-reared Long-Evans hooded rats (N = 1,786) at 20-160 days of age in 3 experiments using a visual cliff apparatus in which the depth of the deep side could be varied. Differential depth thresholds obtained revealed no significant difference at 20 days in perceptual ability due to rearing condition. Both groups showed improvement in depth perception over the next 40-60 days. Dark-reared Ss did not improve at the same rate nor acquire the same degree of discriminative ability as did light-reared Ss. The performance of light-reared Ss leveled off after 100 days, but dark-reared Ss' ability deteriorated. Results are discussed in terms of further specification of the effects of visual deprivation on perceptual capacities. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of same- and different-modality spatial cues on auditory and visual target identification.

A target identification paradigm was used to study cross-modal spatial cuing effects on auditory and visual target identification. Each trial consisted of an auditory or visual spatial cue followed by an auditory or visual target. The cue and target could be either of the same modality (within-modality conditions) or of different modalities (between-modalities conditions). In 3 experiments, a larger cue validity effect was apparent on within-modality trials than on between-modalities trials. In addition, the likelihood of identifying a significant cross-modal cuing effect was observed to depend on the predictability of the cue-target relation. These effects are interpreted as evidence (a) of separate auditory and visual spatial attention mechanisms and (b) that target identification may be influenced by spatial cues of another modality but that this effect is primarily dependent on the engagement of endogenous attentional mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Operant responding for visual stimuli during sensory deprivation: Effect of meaningfulness.

Employed slide series differing in amount of meaningfulness as reinforcers for conjugately programed operant responding during 2-hr sessions of sensory deprivation and control conditions. Ss were 36 student nurses, 17-22 yr. old. Every S had the opportunity to respond to the slide series under both sets of conditions. Rates of responding under both conditions were higher for the more meaningful slide series, but rates of responding for the least meaningful reinforcers were higher under sensory deprivation conditions than under control conditions. Results are interpreted as indicating a need for nonmeaningful stimulation and for meaningful stimulation during sensory deprivation. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sensory integration of auditory and visual information.

In exp. I with 3 male and 1 female o, the bisensory recognition of simultaneously presented auditory and visual verbal information was measured as a function of auditory and visual recognition. It is shown that bisensory performance is superior to performance predicted by a model that assumes the 2 modalities are processing the information independently. Instead integrative processing is suggested. In previous studies using theory of signal detectability (tsd), independent processing of bisensory presentations of mathematically equivalent stimuli has been shown. Present results suggest that the mathematically equated stimuli in those studies were not cognitively equivalent. Exp. Ii with 3 male os lends support to this notion by (a) using verbal information in a tsd paradigm, and (b) showing that when the stimuli are equivalent the results are consistent with a model in which bisensory processing occurs integratively on a common decision axis. However, when the stimuli to each mode are not equivalent, results are consistent with a model in which bisensory processing occurs independently on separate decision axes. (french summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of food deprivation on perception-cognition.

9 experiments designed to investigate the effect of food deprivation on perceptual-cognitive processes are examined in detail. An effect is revealed in only some of these experiments. The deviating results are explained by assuming that motivational state will not affect perceptual-cognitive processes unless the material presented is meaningful in relation to the motivational state. Examination of operational definitions indicate that: (1) the processes studied may be more meaningfully termed imaginary than perceptual, and (2) the motivational state of hunger may rest on the expectancy of the Ss as to when they may next receive food, rather than hr. of food deprivation. (28 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's memory for auditory and visual information on television.

Examined the relationship between children's cognitive processing of video and audio information on TV. 96 5-yr-olds viewed a videotaped segment of Sesame Street followed by comprehension and recognition tests. Ss viewed experimental segments in which (a) the audio and video tracks were from the same segment (A/V match), (b) the audio and video tracks were not from the same segment (A/V mismatch), (c) the video track was presented alone, or (d) the audio track was presented alone. This design allowed unconfounded comparisons of modality-specific processing. In the A/V mismatch condition, memory for audio information was reduced more than memory for video information. However, comprehension and recognition of audio information was similar in the audio-only and A/V match conditions. Results suggest that in regular TV programs, the video information does not interfere with processing the audio information but is more salient and memorable than the audio material. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sensory preconditioning in rats following early visual deprivation.

Conducted 3 experiments in which a total of 131 light- and dark-reared (LR and DR) male hooded rats were given sensory preconditioning (SPC). In each experiment, Ss were presented with 2 stimuli either paired or unpaired, followed by conditioning to 1 and extinction on the other. 2 auditory stimuli were used in Exp. I. SPC was found for both LR and DR Ss, with no significant difference due to rearing condition either in acquisition or in the SPC test. In Exp. II, light and tone were employed; SPC was demonstrated and was more effective for LR than DR Ss. In Exp. III, rectangle stimuli were employed. The effect of SPC was evidenced in LR Ss; however, performance of DR Ss was not significantly different from that of controls. Results are discussed in terms of the effect of early visual deprivation on information-processing mechanisms. (27 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Speech perception from an auditory and visual viewpoint.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 38(1) of Canadian Journal of Psychology Revue Canadienne de Psychologie (see record 2007-03769-001). A programming error occurred in preparing Figure 6. The correct figure looks quite similar to Figure 7, except that the upper eight components are considerably smaller in Figure 6 than in Figure 7. Values quoted in the text remain unchanged.] Processing in the peripheral auditory system of the human ear profoundly alters the characteristics of all acoustic signals impinging on the ear. Some of the 1st-order properties of this peripheral processing are now reasonably well understood: Humans see a heavily overlapped set of filters, with increasingly broader bandwidths at high frequencies, which results in good spectral resolution at low frequencies and good temporal resolution at high frequencies. Results of an examination of speech and music by this system are discussed. An attempt is then made to synthesize several papers on auditory and visual psychophysics, and to speculate on auditory-signal processing analogous to visual-color processing. Several simplified auditory representations of speech are proposed. (French abstract) (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temporal changes in cutaneous sensitivity during prolonged visual deprivation.

Conducted 2 experiments with a total of 62 male undergraduates and 60 controls in which various measures of cutaneous sensitivity were administered at intervals of 0, 1/2, 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 days of visual deprivation (darkness). Relative to controls results reveal no significant differences in performance on the 2-point threshold and on measures of pressure and pain sensitivity, although on the last 2 measures a definite trend toward an improvement was observed after the 3rd day. However, results on the tactual fusion threshold reveal a linear improvement in performance as a function of increasing duration of visual deprivation, a facilitatory effect which was already present, to a statistically significant degree, at the 1st test period of 12 hr. Results of a 3rd experiment, also with 32 experimental ss and 30 controls, indicate that this improvement on the tactual fusion task 1st appeared somewhere between 4 and 12 hr. Of deprivation. Various hypotheses are offered to account for these differential results and findings are related to D. P. Schultz's sensoristatic theory. (french summary) (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of brief sensory deprivation on field dependence.

To determine whether brief sensory deprivation would act to decrease perceptual field dependence, 41 male and female college students were given the Rod and Frame Test (RFT). ? of the group then underwent 1 hr. of sensory deprivation, after which a 2nd RFT indicated a significant decrease (p     

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)     

Specifying the effect of visual deprivation on the rat's ability to recognize patterns.

Compared the performances of light- and dark-reared Long-Evans rats on a variety of transfer tests following acquisition of a visual discrimination in which the critical difference between the patterns was the type of intersection or junction between lines. Significant differences due to rearing were observed in the initial rate at which the discrimination was acquired and, following 15 days of overtraining, on a subsequent series of transfer tests. Results suggest that the spatial integration necessary to recognize even as basic a relationship between linear elements as angle or junction involves mechanisms that require experience for their development and maintenance. (French abstract) (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neonatal sound deprivation affects brain stem auditory nuclei

CBA/J mice deprived of airborne sound stimulation during postnatal development have smaller globular cells in the ventral cochlear nucleus and smaller neurons in the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body than do normal control mice. The sound deprivation in these mice is similar to that experienced by persons with pure congenital conductive hearing losses. Even more profound central neural changes were found in auditory nuclei in the brain stem of a congenitally sensorineural deaf human.     

Temporal resolving capacity of the auditory analyzer of the dolphin Tursiops truncatus

Differential threshold of discrimination of paired stimuli in relation to interimpulse interval has been investigated in man and porpoise. Similar features in mechanisms of discrimination of paired impulses in man and porpoise are noted. It was shown that threshold-interimpulse interval surve may be divided into several parts: two zones in which discrimination is made by different characters, and single transitional zone from one character to another.     

Short-term memory for the timing of auditory and visual signals.

Short-term memory for the timing of irregular sequences of signals has been said to be more accurate when the signals are auditory than when they are visual. No support for this contention was obtained when the signals were beeps vs flashes (Exps 1 and 3) nor when they were sets of spoken vs typewritten digits (Exps 4 and 5). On the other hand, support was obtained both for beeps vs flashes (Exps 2 and 5) and for repetitions of a single spoken digit vs repetitions of a single typewritten digit (Exp 6) when the Ss silently mouthed a nominally irrelevant item during sequence presentation. Also, the timing of sequences of auditory signals, whether verbal (Exp 7) or nonverbal (Exps 8 and 9), was more accurately remembered when the signals within each sequence were identical. The findings are considered from a functional perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lack of power enhances visual perceptual discrimination.

Powerless individuals face much challenge and uncertainty. As a consequence, they are highly vigilant and closely scrutinize their social environments. The aim of the present research was to determine whether these qualities enhance performance in more basic cognitive tasks involving simple visual feature discrimination. To test this hypothesis, participants performed a series of perceptual matching and search tasks involving colour, texture, and size discrimination. As predicted, those primed with powerlessness generated shorter reaction times and made fewer eye movements than either powerful or control participants. The results indicate that the heightened vigilance shown by powerless individuals is associated with an advantage in performing simple types of psychophysical discrimination. These findings highlight, for the first time, an underlying competency in perceptual cognition that sets powerless individuals above their powerful counterparts, an advantage that may reflect functional adaptation to the environmental challenge and uncertainty that they face. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

ERP assessment of visual and auditory language processing in schizophrenia.

Language disturbance in schizophrenia has been recently attributed to disturbed priming mechanisms. In the present study, event-related potentials (ERPs), were recorded to final words in sentences presented to 13 chronic patients with schizophrenia and 12 normal controls. Half of the final words fit a sentence context and another half did not. The N400 (the ERP sensitive to language) latency was prolonged, and its amplitude was more negative to both correct and incorrect sentence endings in the group with schizophrenia relative to the group of normal controls. The early ERP components, N100 and P200, were similar in both groups. These results suggest that language abnormalities in schizophrenia are related to a dysfunction in the language system and not to a general cognitive dysfunction, and may be related to poor use of context in patients with schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perception of auditory–visual temporal synchrony in human infants.

Using a habituation/test procedure, the author investigated adults' and infants' perception of auditory–visual temporal synchrony. Participants were familiarized with a bouncing green disk and a sound that occurred each time the disk bounced. Then, they were given a series of asynchrony test trials where the sound occurred either before or after the disk bounced. The magnitude of the auditory visual temporal asynchrony threshold differed markedly in adults and infants. The threshold for the detection of asynchrony created by a sound preceding a visible event was 65 ms in adults and 350 ms in infants and for the detection of asynchrony created by a sound following a visible event was 112 ms in adults and 450 ms in infants. Also, infants did not respond to asynchronies that exceeded intervals that yielded reliable discrimination. Infants' perception of auditory–visual temporal unity is guided by a synchrony and an asynchrony window, both of which become narrower in development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)