Collaborative Research: A Dynamical Approach to Attending

当我们注意到一个复杂的、动态变化的声音，比如一个句子或一首交响乐时，会发生什么？是什么让一些音乐和一些演讲比其他的更容易听？先前的研究表明，时间结构（即节奏）是听觉事件能力的重要决定因素。这个合作研究项目解决了为什么会这样的问题。简而言之，我们的理论认为节奏是注意力的重要决定因素，因为注意力是一个基本的节奏过程。更具体地说，注意力振荡与复杂事件的节奏密切相关，使听者能够预测重要事件何时发生。因此，那些结构上有利于娱乐的节奏应该很容易被注意到，而具有不规则节奏的事件应该更难以处理。目前的研究项目从两个方面发展了这种方法。首先，我们正在开发听觉参与的数学模型和计算机模拟，对不同类型事件的反应做出具体预测。其次，我们正在调查听众对相同听觉事件的反应，使我们能够评估模型的预测。特别是，我们测试了人们如何专注地遵循简单的听觉模式，这些模式包含了意想不到的时间变化。对这些行为的分析，再加上我们的数学模型，将使我们能够确定内部振荡是否构成了关注听觉事件的能力的基础。如果是这样的话，我们期望能够以数学的精度，大量地说明时间是如何工作的。

What happens when we pay attention to a complex, dynamically changing sound such as a sentence or a symphony? What makes some music and some speech easier to attend to than others? Previous research has shown that temporal structure (i.e. rhythm) is an important determinant of the ability to attend to auditory events. This collaborative research project addresses the question of why this is so. Briefly, our theory states that rhythm is important determinant of attention because attending is a fundamentally rhythmic process. More specifically, attentional oscillations entrain to the rhythms of complex events, allowing listeners to predict when important events will occur. Thus, rhythms whose structures facilitate entrainment should be easy to attend to, while events with irregular rhythms should be more difficult to process. The current research project develops this approach along two fronts. First, we are developing mathematical models and computer simulations of auditory attending that make specific predictions about responses to different types of events. Second, we are investigating the response of listeners to the same auditory events, allowing us to evaluate the model's predictions. In particular, we test how people attentionally follow simple auditory patterns that contain unexpected changes in timing. Analyses of these behaviors, together with our mathematical models, will allow use to determine whether or not internal oscillations underlie the ability to attend to auditory events. If so we expect to be able to say, with mathematical precision, a great deal about how attending in time works.