Auditory perception & action

哪些因素影响我们对声音的感知和反应？ 以前听到过类似的声音会影响我们对新声音的反应吗？ 我们能不能只注意一种声音，而忽略其他声音？我们能注意到声音的任何特定特征，如音高或位置，还是必须注意到“整体”声音？我的研究计划旨在回答这些看似简单的问题，并在这样做的过程中，发展一个完整的理解听觉选择性注意的运作。为了实现这一最终目标，我和我的学生经常研究如何根据呈现的上下文来增强或损害对特定声音的感知。我们已经发现，对目标声音的感知通常受到其与之前或之后的任何其他声音的局部（在基本特征中，如位置，频率，强度和音色）和全局（与模式的一致性）相似性的影响，以及听众的期望。诸如此类的实验提供了对注意机制与知觉组织和记忆过程相互作用的见解。

Which factors influence our perception of, and response to, sounds? Do previous experiences with similar sounds influence the way in which we respond to new sounds? Can we pay attention to one sound while at the same time ignoring others? Can we attend to any specific feature of a sound such as its pitch or location or must we pay attend to 'whole' sounds? My research program is designed to answer these deceptively simple questions and, in so doing, to develop a complete understanding of the operation of auditory selective attention. In working toward this ultimate goal, my students and I often study how the perception of a specific sound may be enhanced or compromised depending on the context in which it is presented. We have found that perception of a target sound is often affected by its local (in basic features such as location, frequency, intensity, & timbre) and global (consistency with a pattern) similarity to any other sounds which precede or follow it, and by the listener's expectations. Experiments such as these provide insights into the interaction of attentional mechanisms with processes involved in perceptual organization and memory.