Perception and Action in Sequential Behavior

我们所感知的与我们如何行动有关。没有什么地方比言语和音乐更能将行为和感知紧密地联系在一起。通过语言或音乐进行交流涉及到执行计划的行动，并感知这些行动的后果--清晰的声音或播放的音乐。然而，我们还不了解反馈对交流流畅性的影响程度和性质。反馈的重要性已经很清楚：听力受损者在发音方面有困难，歌手在大型混响霍尔斯中表演也有困难。另一方面，一些过去的研究结果表明，流畅的发声可以发生时，知觉反馈是缺席的。因此，知觉反馈在声音动作和一般动作的协调中的作用可能很复杂，并且对发生的上下文很敏感。在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，Pfordresher博士将尝试确定知觉反馈如何影响流畅性。沟通。为了检验这种流畅性，普夫德雷舍博士将改变一个动作之后的反馈。在一个典型的实验任务中，一个人产生一系列有意义的动作（例如，在钢琴上弹奏一首曲子，唱一首旋律，或说一句话），这些动作产生的声音会被改变。例如，一个人可能在敲击钢琴键后听到具有不正确音高的音符，或者在延迟后听到该键的正确音高。由这些变化引起的破坏模式将提供有关大脑如何将行为与其后果联系起来的信息。这些干扰将从几个方面进行研究：行为测量和大脑成像，音乐和语言的调查，以及听觉和视觉反馈的改变。希望这项研究的结果将a）提高我们对涉及感知反馈的沟通障碍的理解（例如，口吃; B）揭示帮助人们更有效地与机器互动的原则，在那里可能有很大的传输延迟，以及c）揭示音乐交流和语言交流之间的联系。

What we perceive is related to how we act. Nowhere is there a closer connection between action and perception than in speech and music. Communicating through speech or music involves executing planned actions and perceiving the consequences of those actions--the articulated sounds or the played music. We do not yet understand, however, the extent and nature of feedback's influence on fluency in communication. It is already clear that feedback is important: The hearing-impaired have difficulties in articulation, and singers have difficulties performing in large reverberant halls. On the other hand, some past findings suggest that fluent vocal production can occur when perceptual feedback is absent. Thus, role of perceptual feedback in the coordination of vocal action, and action in general, may be complex, and sensitive to the context in which it occurs.With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Pfordresher will attempt to determine how perceptual feedback affects fluency in communication. To examine that fluency, Dr. Pfordresher will alter the feedback that follows an action. In a typical experimental task, a person produces a meaningful sequence of actions (e.g., playing a tune on the piano, singing a melody, or speaking a sentence), and the sounds that result from these actions are altered. For example, one might hear a note with the incorrect musical pitch after hitting a piano key, or hear the correct pitch for that key after a delay. The patterns of disruption caused by these alterations will be informative about how the brain relates actions to their consequences. The disruptions will be examined from several perspectives: behavioral measurements and brain imaging, investigations of both music and speech, and alterations of both auditory and visual feedback. It is hoped that the outcome of this research will a) improve our understanding of communication disorders that involve perceptual feedback (e.g., stuttering; b) reveal principles that help people interact more effectively with machines, where there can be large transmission delays, and c) reveal links between musical communication and linguistic communication.