Voice perception, attractiveness, and averageness

就像字母表或DNA一样，有限的声音特征库创造了无限数量的独特发声。我开发了一个研究程序，研究如何将这些声学特征的配置转化为对个人的表征：他们看起来是什么样子，他们有多大年纪，他们有多高或多壮，他们的情绪状态，甚至他们的个性。这些看法中有许多是准确的，但也有许多不是。我的研究项目调查了一项看似艰巨的任务，即确定我们如何表达声音，这些感知是否准确，以及它们是基于经验学习还是普通启发式学习。*研究还表明，面孔和声音的吸引力都随着平均水平的增加而增加。关于平均面孔和声音为什么更具吸引力的解释，主要围绕普遍的、基于生物的适应性偏好或普遍拥有的认知机制。例如，普通面孔可能很有吸引力，因为它们可能与遗传多样性的增加有关。由于非面部刺激的吸引力也会受到平均值的影响，其他作者提出，对平均面孔的偏好增加反映了感知或认知信息处理机制的副产品，或者这种副产品后来被用于做出择偶决定。在这篇论文中，我将提议回答这样的问题：代表一个原型需要多少个声音？语音原型是否超越了人们所说的东西？吸引人的声音是否更多地出现在原型中，而不是不吸引人的声音？面部和身体的吸引力，以及关于发声者的传记信息对原型的形成有什么作用？经验和价态对平均化的认知起什么作用？平均是发送者、接受者的品质，还是两者兼而有之？声音偏好是通过条件反射获得的吗？当声音偏离平均水平时，它们是如何表现的？**

Like the alphabet, or DNA, the limited vocal feature base creates an infinite number of unique sounding voices. I have developed a program of research that studies how we translate the configurations of these acoustic features into representations of individuals: what they look like, how old they are, how tall or strong they are, their emotional state, and even their personalities. Many of these perceptions are accurate, but many are not. My research program investigates the seemingly daunting task of determining how we represent voices, whether these perceptions are accurate, and if they are based on learning through experience or general heuristics.******Studies have also shown that both face and voice attractiveness increases with averageness. Explanations of why averaged faces and voices are more attractive centre around universal, biologically-based adaptive preferences or universally possessed cognitive machinery. For example, average faces may be attractive because they may be linked to increased genetic diversity. Because the attractiveness of non-face stimuli is also influenced by averageness, other authors have suggested that increased preferences for averaged faces reflect a byproduct of perceptual or cognitive information-processing mechanisms, or that this byproduct was later exapted for the purpose of mate-choice decisions.******In this grant I will propose to answer questions such as: how many voices are needed to represent a prototype? Do voice prototypes transcend what is spoken? Are attractive voices represented more in prototypes than unattractive voices? What role do facial and physical attractiveness, and biographical information about vocalizers have on prototype formation? What role does experience and valence play on perception of averageness? Is averageness a quality of the sender, perceiver, or both? Are voice preferences learned by conditioning? How are voices represented as they diverge from average?**