Perceptual learning evidence for supramodal representation of stimulus orientation at a conceptual level

Purpose An increasing number of individuals with residual or even normal contralateral hearing are being considered for cochlear implantation. It remains unknown whether the presence of contralateral hearing is beneficial or detrimental to their perceptual learning of cochlear implant (CI)–processed speech. The aim of this experiment was to provide a first insight into this question using acoustic simulations of CI processing. Method Sixty normal-hearing listeners took part in an auditory perceptual learning experiment. Each subject was randomly assigned to one of three groups of 20 referred to as NORMAL, LOWPASS, and NOTHING. The experiment consisted of two test phases separated by a training phase. In the test phases, all subjects were tested on recognition of monosyllabic words passed through a six-channel “PSHC” vocoder presented to a single ear. In the training phase, which consisted of listening to a 25-min audio book, all subjects were also presented with the same vocoded speech in one ear but the signal they received in their other ear differed across groups. The NORMAL group was presented with the unprocessed speech signal, the LOWPASS group with a low-pass filtered version of the speech signal, and the NOTHING group with no sound at all. Results The improvement in speech scores following training was significantly smaller for the NORMAL than for the LOWPASS and NOTHING groups. Conclusions This study suggests that the presentation of normal speech in the contralateral ear reduces or slows down perceptual learning of vocoded speech but that an unintelligible low-pass filtered contralateral signal does not have this effect. Potential implications for the rehabilitation of CI patients with partial or full contralateral hearing are discussed.

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Categorization and Perceptual Learning: An Analogue of the Face Inversion Effect

The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A ◽

10.1080/027249897392080 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 50 (2) ◽

pp. 257-273 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

I.P.L. Mclaren

Keyword(s):

Perceptual Learning ◽

Inversion Effect ◽

Face Inversion Effect ◽

Face Inversion ◽

The Face

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Self-Prioritization Beyond Perception

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000307 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 62 (6) ◽

pp. 415-425 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Sarah Schäfer ◽

Dirk Wentura ◽

Christian Frings

Keyword(s):

The Self ◽

Stimulus Category ◽

Abstract Concept ◽

Conceptual Level ◽

New Paradigm ◽

Stimulus Features ◽

Relevant Word ◽

Word Shape

Abstract. Recently, Sui, He, and Humphreys (2012) introduced a new paradigm to measure perceptual self-prioritization processes. It seems that arbitrarily tagging shapes to self-relevant words (I, my, me, and so on) leads to speeded verification times when matching self-relevant word shape pairings (e.g., me – triangle) as compared to non-self-relevant word shape pairings (e.g., stranger – circle). In order to analyze the level at which self-prioritization takes place we analyzed whether the self-prioritization effect is due to a tagging of the self-relevant label and the particular associated shape or due to a tagging of the self with an abstract concept. In two experiments participants showed standard self-prioritization effects with varying stimulus features or different exemplars of a particular stimulus-category suggesting that self-prioritization also works at a conceptual level.

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