Natural sound characteristics explain perceptual categorization

As we interact with our surroundings, we encounter the same or similar objects from different perspectives and are compelled to generalize. For example, we recognize dog barks as a distinct class of sound, despite the variety of individual barks. While we have some understanding of how generalization is done along a single stimulus dimension, such as frequency or color, natural stimuli are identifiable by a combination of dimensions. To understand perception, measuring the interaction across stimulus dimensions is essential. For example, when identifying a sound, does our brain focus on a specific dimension or a combination, such as its frequency and duration? Furthermore, does the relative relevance of each dimension reflect its contribution to the natural sensory environment? Using a 2-dimension discrimination task for mice we tested untrained generalization across several pairs of auditory dimensions. We uncovered a perceptual hierarchy over the tested dimensions that was dominated by the sound’s spectral composition. A model tuned to the predictability inherent in natural sounds best explained the behavioral results, suggesting that the perceptual hierarchy parallels the predictive content of natural sounds.

An Application of Machine Learning to Predict Stiffness Discrimination Thresholds Using Haptics

The effectiveness of our interaction with the computer-generated environments is subject to our physical limitations in real life such as our ability of discriminating differences in stiffness or roughness. This ability, represented by Weber fractions, is usually quantified by means of psychophysical experimentation. The experimentation process is tedious and repetitive as it requires the same task to be completed by participants until the mastery at a certain stimulus level can be ensured before moving onto the next level. Moreover, these thresholds are dependent on the tested standard stimulus level and, therefore, need to be identified by separate experiments for every possible standard stimulus level. The purpose of the current study is to reduce the amount of experimentation and predict the thresholds for stiffness discrimination of individuals after being tested at a single stimulus level. The prediction models tested provide a moderate level of prediction power, but more features, potentially physical and demographical in nature, are needed to increase their effectiveness. The procedure described herein can be extended to any modality other than stiffness and, therefore, has the potential to predict overall palpation effectiveness of an individual after a feasible amount of data is obtained through experimentation.

Characterization of an Electrode-Type Tactile Display Using Electrical and Electrostatic Friction Stimuli

Unlike tactile displays that use mechanical actuators, electrode-type tactile displays can be easily integrated and miniaturized because they consist of electrodes and insulators. Electrical tactile displays only require electrodes and use an electric current to stimulate vibration or pressure. Likewise, electrostatic friction tactile displays also only require electrodes and an insulator and can induce changes in friction between the display and a fingerpad. We have developed a tactile display that integrates electrical and electrostatic friction stimulation owing to their affinity to microfabrication techniques. This tactile display can provide both pressure and friction at the same time. In this study, we presented an elongated bar shape via the tactile display to experimental participants. The experimental results showed that a tactile display employing multiple stimuli as opposed to a single stimulus can induce the perception of larger shapes.

Spatial orientation during gondola centrifugation with subjects upright versus supine: Evidence for Gestalt psychological mechanisms in vestibular perception

BACKGROUND: Recent theories suggest that perception of complex self-motion is governed by familiarity of the motion pattern as a whole in 3D. OBJECTIVE: To explore how familiarity determines the perceived angular displacement with respect to the Earth during a simulated coordinated turn in a gondola centrifuge. METHOD: The centrifuge was accelerated to 2G (gondola displacement 60°) within 12.5 s. Using visual indicators in darkness, responses to the gondola displacement were recorded with subjects (n = 10) in two positions: sitting-upright, facing-forward versus lying-supine, feet-forwards. Each subject underwent 2×2 6-minute runs. RESULT: When upright, subjects indicated a tilt of initially 18.8±11.3°, declining with T = 66±37 s. In the supine position (subject’s yaw plane coinciding with the plane of gondola displacement) the indicated displacement was negligible (–0.3±4.8°). CONCLUSION: Since the canal system is most responsive to stimuli in yaw, these findings are difficult to explain by bottom-up models. Rather, the motion pattern during acceleration would be recognized as a familiar or meaningful whole (entering a co-ordinated turn) only when the subject is upright. Presumably, the degree of familiarity is reflected in the subject’s ability to discern and estimate a single stimulus component. Findings are discussed in connection with human factors in aviation and the principles of Gestalt psychology.

Stimulus Intervals Modulate the Balance of Brain Activity in the Human Primary Somatosensory Cortex: An ERP Study

Neuronal excitation and inhibition occur in the brain at the same time, and brain activation reflects changes in the sum of excitation and inhibition. This principle has been well-established in lower-level sensory systems, including vision and touch, based on animal studies. However, it is unclear how the somatosensory system processes the balance between excitation and inhibition. In the present ERP study, we modified the traditional spatial attention paradigm by adding double stimuli presentations at short intervals (i.e., 10, 30, and 100 ms). Seventeen subjects participated in the experiment. Five types of stimulation were used in the experiment: a single stimulus (one raised pin for 40 ms), standard stimulus (eight pins for 40 ms), and double stimuli presented at intervals of 10, 30, and 100 ms. The subjects were asked to attend to a particular finger and detect whether the standard stimulus was presented to that finger. The results showed a clear attention-related ERP component in the single stimulus condition, but the suppression components associated with the three interval conditions seemed to be dominant in somatosensory areas. In particular, we found the strongest suppression effect in the ISI-30 condition (interval of 30 ms) and that the suppression and enhancement effects seemed to be counterbalanced in both the ISI-10 and ISI-100 conditions (intervals of 10 and 100 ms, respectively). This type of processing may allow humans to easily discriminate between multiple stimuli on the same body part.

Psychomotor consequences in children with Tourette’s Syndrome

Background: Tourette’s Syndrome (TS) has a neuropsychiatric aspect and a chronic repertoire of motor-phonic tics. The common onset is in infants and remission in adults. Objective: investigate psychomotor consequences in children with TS. Design and settings: literature review. Methods: eleven studies were selected from a group of 20 after searching the MEDLINE database for “psychomotor performance OR psychomotor development” and “Tourette’s Syndrome”. Only articles with full texts available and published from 2011-2021 were included. Results: the response time (RT) of children with TS was longer. Throughout Do/Don’t tasks, with/without false alarms, the RT was lower while the accuracy of movement (AM) was greater. A study on RT and AM with different levels of complexity showed greater difficulty in ST group (p<0.001) with RT increasing according to complexity. Many children with TS also had ADHD, and when comparing them to the ones only with TS, the ADHD+TS group made more mistakes while having the same RT. The ADHD+TS group also had a response blockage in non-sequential tests and lower TS in sequential tests (p=0.006). Studies showed an association between motor tics and forgetfulness rate (FR), with these being inversely proportional. Conclusion: children with TS have greater RT and the response to uni and bimodal stimuli differ, with greater AM and lower RT to single stimulus. More severe tics were associated with better content retention. Other psychiatric disorders are common, especially ADHD, requiring further studies to link the consequences of each pathology accordingly.

Double Barreled Questions: An Analysis of the Similarity of Elements and Effects on Measurement Quality

In double barreled questions (DBQs) respondents provide one answer to two questions. Assumptions how respondents treat DBQs and how DBQs impact measurement quality are tested in two randomized experiments. DBQs are compared with revisions in which one stimulus was retained while the other stimulus was skipped. The observed means and parameters when modeling latent variables differed among the versions. Metric and scalar measurement invariance was not given among the versions, and at least one single stimulus version was found to be associated with a higher validity. Response latencies did not differ among versions or respondents needed less time to respond to DBQs. The author concludes that respondents may understand the stimuli in a DBQ differently, and access one of them while disregarding the other, which can have an adverse effect on validity.

Fruit flies can learn non-elemental olfactory discriminations

Associative learning allows animals to establish links between stimuli based on their concomitance. In the case of Pavlovian conditioning, a single stimulus A (the conditional stimulus, CS) is reinforced unambiguously with an unconditional stimulus (US) eliciting an innate response. This conditioning constitutes an ‘elemental’ association to elicit a learnt response from A + without US presentation after learning. However, associative learning may involve a ‘complex’ CS composed of several components. In that case, the compound may predict a different outcome than the components taken separately, leading to ambiguity and requiring the animal to perform so-called non-elemental discrimination. Here, we focus on such a non-elemental task, the negative patterning (NP) problem, and provide the first evidence of NP solving in Drosophila . We show that Drosophila learn to discriminate a simple component (A or B) associated with electric shocks (+) from an odour mixture composed either partly (called ‘feature-negative discrimination’ A + versus AB − ) or entirely (called ‘NP’ A + B + versus AB − ) of the shock-associated components. Furthermore, we show that conditioning repetition results in a transition from an elemental to a configural representation of the mixture required to solve the NP task, highlighting the cognitive flexibility of Drosophila .