Listening as active process – probing a rhythmic mode of listening

据推测，人类的倾听行为依赖于一种所谓的节奏感知模式。这一概念是基于两方面的证据提出的：第一，基于动物的神经生理学记录，显示了听觉皮层兴奋性的节律性变化；第二，基于心理声学的研究表明，我们探测或辨别声音的能力可以随着相对于参考时间点的明显节奏而变化。有节奏的倾听模式的概念是基于这样一个普遍的观点，即感知是一个主动的过程，它可以在不同的操作模式之间切换，并依赖于感觉和运动系统之间的相互作用。然而，尽管它在文献中占有突出地位，但以前的工作留下了围绕有节奏倾听模式的出现和稳健性及其与未解决的积极行为的关系的核心问题。我们在这里使用人类心理声学研究、眼动追踪和计算建模来解决以下及时的问题。首先，使用先前建立的任务，我们将提供关于在没有干扰声音的挑战性听力任务中感知报告的节奏性的稳健可靠的数据，以了解假定的节奏模式出现的条件。然后，我们使用实验操作验证了节奏模式可以积极参与或脱离的预测，并使用瞳孔测量法将听力模式和听力表现与参与者的警觉性联系起来。然后，我们探索自发和指示动眼肌行为如何与听力模式和表现相关，以了解听力模式是否确实与主动感知账户所假设的主动行为直接相关。最后，我们使用行为数据的计算模型来分离行为数据中假定的节奏模式的感觉和决策层面起源。所提出的工作将巩固我们对倾听作为主动感知的理解。这些知识对于理解感知的基本机制至关重要，但对于我们理解语言理解和相关缺陷也至关重要，这是一个与老龄化社会高度相关的话题。

Human listening behaviour supposedly relies on a so-called rhythmic mode of perception. This notion has been introduced based on two lines of evidence: first, based on neurophysiological recordings in animals demonstrating rhythmic changes in the excitability of auditory cortices; and second, based on psychoacoustic studies showing that our abilities to detect or discriminate sounds can vary with an apparent rhythmicity relative to a reference time point. The notion of a rhythmic listening mode rests on the general idea that perception is an active process that can switch between distinct modes of operation and which relies on the interaction between sensory and motor systems. Yet, and despite its prominence in the literature, previous work leaves central questions around the emergence and robustness of a rhythmic listening mode and its relation to active behaviour unresolved. We here address the following timely questions using psychoacoustic studies in humans, eye tracking and computational modelling. First, and using previously established tasks, we will provide robust and reliable data on the rhythmicity of perceptual reports in challenging listening tasks in the absence of entraining sounds, in order to understand the conditions under which a putative rhythmic mode emerges. Then, we test the prediction that a rhythmic mode can be actively engaged or disengaged using experimental manipulations, and use pupillometry to link listening modes and listening performance to participant’s vigilance. We then probe how spontaneous and instructed oculomotor behaviour relates to listening modes and performance, in order to understand whether listening modes are indeed directly linked to active behaviour as postulated by active sensing accounts. And finally, we employ computational modelling of the behavioural data to dissociate sensory- and decision-level origins of presumed rhythmic patterns in behavioural data. The proposed work will consolidate our understanding of listening as active perception. This knowledge is paramount for understanding the basic mechanisms underlying perception in general, but is also critical for our understanding of speech comprehension and related deficits, a highly relevant topic for an aging society.