scholarly journals Structural Organization and Features of Speech and Music Perception in Language Functions’ Implementation with Timbre’s Perceptive Assessment

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
I. G. Andreeva ◽  
M. Dymnikowa ◽  
E. A. Ogorodnikova
Keyword(s):  
Structural Organization ◽  
Music Perception ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Spatial Selectivity ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
Musical Perception ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Perceptual Characteristics ◽  
Auditory Analysis

In cognitive science, the psychological and biological foundations of music are often considered in the context of comparison with the functions of speech and language. The article describes some aspects of the similarities and differences between music and speech in the implementation of language functions, as well as a typological study of its features according to Buhler, Jakobson, Halliday and Kiklewicz classifications. A general comparison of structural organization and main perceptual characteristics of music and speech signals is carried out additionally, with separate consideration of neurophysiological foundations of the auditory analysis of timbre characteristics of speech sources (speaker's voice) and music (instrument sounds). Some aspects of the practical application of auditory and musical training in the context of training and rehabilitation measures for sensory-cognitive dysfunctions of various genesis are explained, with the prospects of further research aimed at studying the influence of the timbre on the indices of spatial selectivity of musical perception in comparison with the characteristics of the spatial selectivity of speech hearing in the perception of complex acoustic scenes.

scholarly journals Musical Sophistication and Speech Auditory-Motor Coupling: Easy Tests for Quick Answers

2022 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna M. Rimmele ◽  
Pius Kern ◽  
Christina Lubinus ◽  
Klaus Frieler ◽  
David Poeppel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Coupling Strength ◽  
Music Perception ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Indirect Measure ◽  
Musical Perception ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Highly Correlated

Musical training enhances auditory-motor cortex coupling, which in turn facilitates music and speech perception. How tightly the temporal processing of music and speech are intertwined is a topic of current research. We investigated the relationship between musical sophistication (Goldsmiths Musical Sophistication index, Gold-MSI) and spontaneous speech-to-speech synchronization behavior as an indirect measure of speech auditory-motor cortex coupling strength. In a group of participants (n = 196), we tested whether the outcome of the spontaneous speech-to-speech synchronization test (SSS-test) can be inferred from self-reported musical sophistication. Participants were classified as high (HIGHs) or low (LOWs) synchronizers according to the SSS-test. HIGHs scored higher than LOWs on all Gold-MSI subscales (General Score, Active Engagement, Musical Perception, Musical Training, Singing Skills), but the Emotional Attachment scale. More specifically, compared to a previously reported German-speaking sample, HIGHs overall scored higher and LOWs lower. Compared to an estimated distribution of the English-speaking general population, our sample overall scored lower, with the scores of LOWs significantly differing from the normal distribution, with scores in the ∼30th percentile. While HIGHs more often reported musical training compared to LOWs, the distribution of training instruments did not vary across groups. Importantly, even after the highly correlated subscores of the Gold-MSI were decorrelated, particularly the subscales Musical Perception and Musical Training allowed to infer the speech-to-speech synchronization behavior. The differential effects of musical perception and training were observed, with training predicting audio-motor synchronization in both groups, but perception only in the HIGHs. Our findings suggest that speech auditory-motor cortex coupling strength can be inferred from training and perceptual aspects of musical sophistication, suggesting shared mechanisms involved in speech and music perception.

Scientific Knowledge in Sociology: Problem Statement

2019 ◽  
pp. 27-32
Author(s):  
Gennady V. Kanygin ◽  
Maria S. Poltinnikova
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Social Communication ◽  
Methodological Problem ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Wide Spread ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Problem Statement ◽  
Hidden Knowledge ◽  
Similarities And Differences

The article opens a cycle of publications, which analyze the similarities and differences between the two wide spread modern approaches to the description of society - sociological and informational ones. Both approaches have the same methodological problem to be solved. The problem of expressing hidden knowledge about society that participants in social processes operate with the help of natural language in the course of social communication. In order to harmonize sociological and informational approaches of describing society, it was proposed any natural language statements involved in describing society to be arranged according to the basic principle of information technology - modularity. The proposed way of harmonizing informational and sociological methods of building knowledge about society is invoked by the need to solve two scientific problems formulated in sociology itself - the constructability of social objects and the complexity of social relationships. The paper's methodological proposals are embodied in their computer realization, which practical application is demonstrated in other publications of the authors.

How Languages Work

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Genetti
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
Analytical Skills ◽  
Language Discourse ◽  
Functional Aspects ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Language Profiles ◽  
And Linguistics

Language is a sophisticated tool which we use to communicate in a multitude of ways. Updated and expanded in its second edition, this book introduces language and linguistics - presenting language in all its amazing complexity while systematically guiding you through the basics. The reader will emerge with an appreciation of the diversity of the world's languages, as well as a deeper understanding of the structure of human language, the ways it is used, and its broader social and cultural context. Part I is devoted to the nuts and bolts of language study - speech sounds, sound patterns, sentence structure, and meaning - and includes chapters dedicated to the functional aspects of language: discourse, prosody, pragmatics, and language contact. The fourteen language profiles included in Part II reveal the world's linguistic variety while expanding on the similarities and differences between languages. Using knowledge gained from Part I, the reader can explore how language functions when speakers use it in daily interaction. With a step-by-step approach that is reinforced with well-chosen illustrations, case studies, and study questions, readers will gain understanding and analytical skills that will only enrich their ongoing study of language and linguistics.

scholarly journals Music perception: No strong evidence to reject innate biases

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick E. Savage ◽  
Thomas E. Currie
Keyword(s):  
Music Perception ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Group Performance ◽  
Global Analysis ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
South American ◽  
Musical Perception ◽  
Indigenous Group ◽  
Nature And Nurture ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary

McDermott et al. (Nature 535, 547–550; 2016) used a cross-cultural experiment to show that an isolated South American indigenous group, the Tsimane', exhibit indifference to musical dissonance. The study acts as an important counterweight to common beliefs that musical preferences reflect universal, mathematically based harmonic relationships that are biologically determined by low-level perceptual mechanisms. While we applaud their cross-cultural approach, the limited number of populations studied (n=5) makes it difficult to draw strong conclusions about causal processes. In particular, the conclusion that consonance is thus "unlikely to reflect innate biases" seems too strong, as innateness does not require complete universality. Exceptions are always found in any phenomenon as complex as human music. Indeed, our own global analysis of traditional music found dozens of aspects of music that were common cross-culturally, but none that were absolutely universal without exception (Savage et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 112, 8987-8992; 2015). We showed a consistent tendency to avoid dissonance, yet we still found many examples of sustained dissonance in Western and non-Western music (e.g., Eastern European harvest songs, Papua New Guinean lullabies).Such trends and exceptions are not necessarily indicative of the degree of innateness of aspects of music (which, like other domains of culture, likely reflects some combination of nature and nurture). For example, humans and other animals display an innate aversion to bitter and sour foods, but these can be overridden by cultural conventions and developmental experience (Chandrashekar et al. Nature 444, 288-293; 2006). Diversity in musical perception and production could emerge in the context of weak cognitive biases or relaxation in selective pressures (such as the unusual absence of group performance among the Tsimane'). Broader cross-cultural studies of both perception and production of music and other aspects of human behavior (including cultural evolutionary and developmental frameworks) will be needed to clarify the roles of nature and nurture in shaping human diversity.

scholarly journals Discerning the functional networks behind processing of music and speech through human vocalizations

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arafat Angulo-Perkins ◽  
Luis Concha
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
Music Perception ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Functional Divergence ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Magnetic Resonance Images ◽  
Biological Traits

ABSTRACT Musicality refers to specific biological traits that allow us to perceive, generate and enjoy music. These abilities can be studied at different organizational levels (e.g., behavioural, physiological, evolutionary), and all of them reflect that music and speech processing are two different cognitive domains. Previous research has shown evidence of this functional divergence in auditory cortical regions in the superior temporal gyrus (such as the planum polare), showing increased activity upon listening to music, as compared to other complex acoustic signals. Here, we examine brain activity underlying vocal music and speech perception, while we compare musicians and non-musicians. We designed a stimulation paradigm using the same voice to produce spoken sentences, hummed melodies, and sung sentences; the same sentences were used in speech and song categories, and the same melodies were used in the musical categories (song and hum). Participants listened to this paradigm while we acquired functional magnetic resonance images (fMRI). Different analyses demonstrated greater involvement of specific auditory and motor regions during music perception, as compared to speech vocalizations. This music sensitive network includes bilateral activation of the planum polare and temporale, as well as a group of regions lateralized to the right hemisphere that included the supplementary motor area, premotor cortex and the inferior frontal gyrus. Our results show that the simple act of listening to music generates stronger activation of motor regions, possibly preparing us to move following the beat. Vocal musical listening, with and without lyrics, is also accompanied by a higher modulation of specific secondary auditory cortices such as the planum polare, confirming its crucial role in music processing independently of previous musical training. This study provides more evidence showing that music perception enhances audio-sensorimotor activity, crucial for clinical approaches exploring music based therapies to improve communicative and motor skills.

scholarly journals Cortical entrainment to music and its modulation by expertise

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (45) ◽  
pp. E6233-E6242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith B. Doelling ◽  
David Poeppel
Keyword(s):  
Music Perception ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Oscillatory Activity ◽  
Cortical Oscillations ◽  
Bidirectional Relationship ◽  
Delta Activity ◽  
Tightly Coupled ◽  
Neural Entrainment ◽  
Cortical Entrainment

Recent studies establish that cortical oscillations track naturalistic speech in a remarkably faithful way. Here, we test whether such neural activity, particularly low-frequency (<8 Hz; delta–theta) oscillations, similarly entrain to music and whether experience modifies such a cortical phenomenon. Music of varying tempi was used to test entrainment at different rates. In three magnetoencephalography experiments, we recorded from nonmusicians, as well as musicians with varying years of experience. Recordings from nonmusicians demonstrate cortical entrainment that tracks musical stimuli over a typical range of tempi, but not at tempi below 1 note per second. Importantly, the observed entrainment correlates with performance on a concurrent pitch-related behavioral task. In contrast, the data from musicians show that entrainment is enhanced by years of musical training, at all presented tempi. This suggests a bidirectional relationship between behavior and cortical entrainment, a phenomenon that has not previously been reported. Additional analyses focus on responses in the beta range (∼15–30 Hz)—often linked to delta activity in the context of temporal predictions. Our findings provide evidence that the role of beta in temporal predictions scales to the complex hierarchical rhythms in natural music and enhances processing of musical content. This study builds on important findings on brainstem plasticity and represents a compelling demonstration that cortical neural entrainment is tightly coupled to both musical training and task performance, further supporting a role for cortical oscillatory activity in music perception and cognition.

Suspended Deportation Orders: A Proposed Law Reform

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-319
Author(s):  
Jonathan Collinson
Keyword(s):  
Family Life ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Binary Outcomes ◽  
Criminal Offending ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Foreign National ◽  
Statutory Law ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Hard Cases

Abstract The Immigration Act 2014, the UK statutory law governing deportation, requires deportation as the normal consequence of criminal offending by a foreign national. Deportation is a binary institution; a foreign national offender (FNO) is made subject to a deportation order and deported from the UK, or they are not. This is problematic because it creates two kinds of ‘hard cases’ on either side of the statutory categories for exemption from deportation on the basis of an FNO’s article 8 ECHR family life. This article proposes the introduction of a ‘suspended deportation order’ so as to create a third possible disposal for deportation appeals as a means by which to tackle the problems arising from the binary outcomes to deportation appeals. The article examines suspended prison sentences as a model for the rationale and practical application of a ‘suspended deportation order’, noting both similarities and differences to this fixture of sentencing law.

scholarly journals The EAG Voltage-Dependent K+ Channel Subfamily: Similarities and Differences in Structural Organization and Gating

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Barros ◽  
Pilar de la Peña ◽  
Pedro Domínguez ◽  
Luisa Maria Sierra ◽  
Luis A. Pardo
Keyword(s):  
Structural Organization ◽  
K Channel ◽  
Voltage Dependent ◽  
Similarities And Differences

Profiles of Processing: Eye Movements during Sightreading

1994 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas W. Goolsby
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movement ◽  
Music Perception ◽  
Performance Support ◽  
Music Notation ◽  
Skilled Reader ◽  
Perceptual Span ◽  
Visual Detail ◽  
Musical Perception ◽  
Visual Notation ◽  
Processing Language

Temporal and sequential components of the eye movement used by a skilled and a less-skilled sightreader were used to construct six profiles of processing. Each subject read three melodies of varying levels of concentration of visual detail. The profiles indicates the order, duration, and location of each fixation while the subjects sightread the melodies. Results indicate that music readers do not fixate on note stems or the bar lines that connect eighth notes when sightreading. The less-skilled music reader progressed through the melody virtually note-by-note using long fixations, whereas the skilled sightreader directed fixations to all areas of the notation (using more regressions than the less-skilled reader) to perform the music accurately. Results support earlier findings that skilled sightreaders look farther ahead in the notation, then back to the point of performance (Goolsby, 1994), and have a larger perceptual span than less-skilled sightreaders. Findings support Slobodans (1984) contention that music reading (i. e., sightreading) is indeed music perception, because music notation is processed before performance. Support was found for Sloboda's (1977, 1984, 1985, 1988) hypotheses on the effects of physical and structural boundaries on visual musical perception. The profiles indicate a number of differences between music perception from processing visual notation and perception resulting from language reading. These differences include: (1) opposite trends in the control of eye movement (i. e., the better music reader fixates in blank areas of the visual stimuli and not directly on each item of the information that was performed), (2) a perceptual span that is vertical as well as horizontal, (3) more eye movement associated with the better reader, and (4) greater attention used for processing language than for music, although the latter task requires an "exact realization."

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document