Does Sound Influence Perceived Duration of Visual Motion?

Multimodal perception is a key factor in obtaining a rich and meaningful representation of the world. However, how each stimulus combines to determine the overall percept remains a matter of research. The present work investigates the effect of sound on the bimodal perception of motion. A visual moving target was presented to the participants, associated with a concurrent sound, in a time reproduction task. Particular attention was paid to the structure of both the auditory and the visual stimuli. Four different laws of motion were tested for the visual motion, one of which is biological. Nine different sound profiles were tested, from an easier constant sound to more variable and complex pitch profiles, always presented synchronously with motion. Participants’ responses show that constant sounds produce the worst duration estimation performance, even worse than the silent condition; more complex sounds, instead, guarantee significantly better performance. The structure of the visual stimulus and that of the auditory stimulus appear to condition the performance independently. Biological motion provides the best performance, while the motion featured by a constant-velocity profile provides the worst performance. Results clearly show that a concurrent sound influences the unified perception of motion; the type and magnitude of the bias depends on the structure of the sound stimulus. Contrary to expectations, the best performance is not generated by the simplest stimuli, but rather by more complex stimuli that are richer in information.

Post Covid-19 and Dentistry Revealing the silent condition - Rhino Maxillary Mucormycosis

The author would like to highlight the uncommon condition of rhinomaxillary mucormycosis which presents with a common complaint of periodontal abscess. This is highly significant in the current global scenario of the Covid-19 pandemic, as this deadly condition if diagnosed timely (by the dental surgeon) can save lives and prevent serious lifelong morbidity. Acute lung damage in Covid-19 was controlled worldwide by administering corticosteroids. This led to transient hyperglycemia, which coupled with low immunity served as an ideal environment for the fungal spore’s growth and proliferation.1 Species like Candida, Aspergillus and Rhizopus are normally not virulent in healthy individuals but can cause disseminated fatal infections in an immune-compromised host.2 Infection caused by these opportunistic pathogenic fungi present with non-specific symptoms and are often difficult to diagnose. Mucormycosis is the third most common opportunistic fungal infection caused by Rhizopus.3 Two such cases reported to the Department of Periodontics, Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences, New Delhi with similar oral findings and common history of Covid-19 recovery. Both the patients were on 3 weeks of steroid therapy during which they had transient hyperglycemia. After 4 weeks of recovery, they developed painful gum boil/s. Clinical findings revealed periodontal abscess and tooth mobility.

The Role of Visibility in Silent Speech Tongue Movements: A Kinematic Study of Consonants

Purpose To better understand the role of tongue visibility in speech, this study compared the spatiotemporal patterns of silent versus audible speech for lingual consonants of American English. Kinematic data were obtained for articulatory features assumed to be visually salient, including tongue movement (anterior displacement and midsagittal area), lip aperture, and consonant duration. Method Electromagnetic articulography was used to measure 11 native speakers' productions of five consonants (/ɡ/, /w/, /ɹ/, /l/, and /ð/), selected to represent a continuum of tongue visibility. Nonword consonant–vowel syllables were elicited during a procedure designed to convey a dyadic communication environment. A method of kinematic-based consonant segmentation was developed for data processing, and results were analyzed with repeated-measures analysis of variance. Results Findings indicated increased consonant duration and lip aperture in the silent condition (vs. audible) for all five consonants. Tongue forward displacement was slightly greater in the silent condition, compared to audible, for all consonants except /ɡ/, the only consonant without a visible tongue component. In addition, the extent of tongue forwarding in silent speech corresponded with the degree of tongue visibility. Conclusion During silent speech, talkers increased their lip aperture and consonant duration and tended to shift their tongues forward for the most visible lingual consonants, suggesting that talkers may be aware at some level of the need to increase articulatory visibility of the tongue in the presence of an interlocutor during adverse speech conditions.

Online sonification improves cycling performance through kinematic and muscular reorganisations

Based on a previous study that demonstrated the beneficial effects of sonification on cycling performance, this study investigated which kinematic and muscular activities were changed to pedal effectively. An online error-based sonification strategy was developed, such that, when negative torque was applied to the pedal, a squeak sound was produced in real-time in the corresponding headphone. Participants completed four 6-min cycling trials with resistance values associated with their first ventilatory threshold. Different auditory display conditions were used for each trial (Silent, Right, Left, Stereo), where sonification was only presented for 20 s at the start of minutes 1, 2, 3, and 4. Joint kinematics and right leg muscular activities of 10 muscles were simultaneously recorded. Our results showed participants were more effective at pedalling when presented sonification, which was consistent with previously reported findings. In comparison to the Silent condition, sonification significantly limited ankle and knee joint ranges of motion and reduced muscular activations. These findings suggest performance-based sonification significantly affected participants to reduce the complexity of the task by altering the coordination of the degrees of freedom. By making these significant changes to their patterns, participants improved their cycling performance despite lowering joint ranges of motion and muscular activations.

The Effects of Three Different Background Music between Vocal, Instrumental and Silent on Verbal and Spatial Task Performance in Learning

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of three different backgrounds of music vocal, instrumental and silent on the verbal and spatial task performance in learning. The samples from Master students of Education in University Putra Malaysia which consisted of 36 students from Faculty of Educational Studies. This experimental research design to test hypothesis the effect of three different backgrounds of music vocal, instrumental and silent on the verbal and spatial task performance in learning. Data was analyse using IBM Statistics where this study used independent sample T-test and two-way analysis variance (ANOVA). The T-test result of analysis show there is differences between vocal condition (t = 1.101, p = 0.172), instrumental condition (t = 2.06, p = 0.018), and silent condition difference (t = 2.712, p = 0.022) on the verbal and spatial task in learning. Two-way ANOVA Task-Music group Greenhouse-Geisserwas reported in the significant level (p<0.05).

Tones disrupt visual fixations and responding on a visual-spatial task

The current study used an eye tracker to examine how auditory input affects the latency of visual saccades, fixations, and response times while using variations of a Serial Response Time (SRT) task. In Experiment 1, participants viewed a repeating sequence of visual stimuli that appeared in different locations on a computer monitor and they had to quickly determine if each visual stimulus was red or blue. The visual sequence was either presented in silence or paired with tones. Compared to the silent condition, the tones slowed down red/blue discriminations and delayed the latency of first fixations to the visual stimuli. To ensure the interference was not occurring during the decision/response phase and to better understand the nature of auditory interference, we removed the red/blue discrimination task in Experiment 2, manipulated cognitive load, and developed a gaze-contingent procedure where the timing of each visual stimulus was dependent on a saccade crossing a gaze-contingent boundary surrounding the target. Participants were slower at initiating their saccades/fixations and made more fixations under high load and auditory interference was found with participants being more likely to fixate on the visual images and were faster at fixating on the visual stimuli when the visual sequences were presented in silence. These findings suggest that auditory interference effects occur early in the course of processing and provide insights into potential mechanisms underlying modality dominance effects.

ANALISIS PELAYANAN LALU LINTAS SIMPANG JALAN TAK BERSINYAL PADA JALAN TEMUGURUH GENTENG

Temuguruh-Genteng road represent Cross-roads 3 (three) at one area that don’t have traffic light, so that often happened momentary stop. This research calculating amount and type of vehicle at the rushhour with time period 5 minute and geometrik measurement of cross-road at the silent condition of road. Then searched by traffic current in time period of 15 minute. Traffic current in this 15 minute period is multiplied 4 as volume per hour. Data analysis indicate that the real capacities (C) equal to 2.834 pcu/h and degree of saturation (DS) equal to 0,983. From the alternative prohibition order desisting around branch and prohibition order turn to right from by way direction and main road obtained by degree of saturation (DS) equal to 0,695 (DS < 0,85) and cross-roads capacities (C) equal to 4011 pcu/h, that mean up to standard in the plan of cross-roads.

Upaya Orang Tua dalam Memotivasi Kesungguhan Belajar Anak di Desa Bulusari Tarokan Kabupaten Kediri

This research is in the background by the importance of parents' role as the first and foremost educator for the child to motivate their children in order to increase the seriousness of learning. When children learn should always get attention and guidance from parents. Parents must meet the children's learning needs and always give motivation, otherwise it will be difficult to familiarize the child to learn this research using a qualitative approach that has the characteristics of: natural background And researchers as a key source, and research is descriptive. The results of the study after the analysis, namely: (1) Children's study pattern at home in Bulusari village, Tarokan District of Kediri regency of each child varies, some who like learning in a quiet or silent condition, some are happy to learn While watching TV or listening to the song. Children's learning patterns in this village use two approaches that are self-learning (individual) and with teachers looking for tutoring and learning guidance. (2) The motivational forms of the family so that the children learn vigorous is to give examples to the child, because the child has the data to emulate the good. (3) Forms of motivation given by parents to foster children's learning spirit is to provide complete learning facilities, giving gifts or rewards, creating conducive atmosphere and learning conditions so that children can learn and punishment for a child who does not want to learn and lazy to learn and the child who dropped his learning achievement.

Variations in Food Acceptability with Respect to Pitch, Tempo, and Volume Levels of Background Music

This study aimed to determine whether pitch, tempo, and volume levels of music stimuli affect sensory perception and acceptance of foods. A traditional music piece was arranged into versions at two pitches, two tempos, and two volumes. For each session, chocolate and bell peppers were presented for consumption under three sound conditions: 1) upper or 2) lower level with respect to each of the three music elements, and 3) silence. Over three sessions, participants evaluated flavor intensity, pleasantness of flavor, texture impression, and overall impression of food samples, in addition to the pleasantness and stimulation evoked by the music stimuli. Results showed that lower-pitched and louder music stimuli increased hedonic impressions of foods compared to their respective counterparts and/or the silent condition. While the effects of music element levels on hedonic impressions differed with the type of food consumed, the participants liked the foods more when music stimuli were perceived as more pleasant and stimulating. Flavor was perceived as more intense when participants were more stimulated by the music samples. Although a specific element of music stimuli was manipulated, perceptions of other elements also varied, leading to large variations in the music-evoked pleasantness and stimulation. In conclusion, the findings provide empirical evidence that hedonic impressions of foods may be influenced by emotions evoked by music selections varying in music element levels, but it should be also noted that the influences were food-dependent and not pronounced.