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The role of single-channel cues in synchrony perception: the summed waveform.

Human observers are able to discriminate between simultaneously presented bands of noise having envelopes that are identical (synchronous) rather than statistically independent (asynchronous). The possibility that the detection of envelope synchrony is based on cues available in a single critical band, rather than on a simultaneous comparison of envelopes extracted via independent critical bands, is examined. Two potential single-channel cues were examined, both relying on the assumption that information present in the envelope of the summed bands is available to the listener. One such single-channel cue is the rms of the envelope of the summed waveform; the envelope is more deeply modulated for the summed synchronous bands than for the summed asynchronous bands. The second cue examined was envelope regularity; the envelope of the summed synchronous bands has periodic envelope minima, while the summed asynchronous bands exhibit aperiodic envelope minima. Psychophysical results suggest that such within-channel cues may be both available to, and utilized by, the listener when the component bands are separated by less than one-third of an octave.

Attention↗

The effect of nonsimultaneous on-frequency and off-frequency cues on the detection of a tonal signal masked by narrow-band noise.

Listeners' detection thresholds were measured for a 125-ms, 1-kHz tonal signal masked by a similarly gated 50-Hz-wide band of noise. A two-interval, adaptive, forced-choice procedure either with or without temporally surrounding cuing intervals containing 50-Hz-wide bands of noise was employed. When the cues were present, their center frequency was either 1 kHz (on-frequency) or 900 or 700 Hz (off-frequency). In the conditions of principal interest, the envelopes and phase modulations of the bands of noise were "frozen" across the four intervals that defined a trial, but were chosen randomly across trials. Thresholds were lowest with cues centered at 1 kHz and increased substantially when the center frequency of the cues was changed to 900 or 700 Hz. With cues centered at 700 Hz, performance was equivalent to that obtained without cues and with the masking noise "frozen" across the two intervals that defined a trial. A similar pattern of results was obtained with high-frequency stimuli, where sensitivity to fine-structure information is greatly reduced. Roving the level of the stimuli over a 40-dB range generally reduced sensitivity but did not greatly affect the overall pattern of the data. Thresholds obtained in the two-interval task with masking waveforms chosen randomly were compared with thresholds obtained when the masking waveform was "frozen" within, but not across trials. Differences in threshold appeared to be accounted for by the listeners' use of changes in the mean slope of the envelope of the noise produced by adding the tonal signal.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

A corpus-based study of repair cues in spontaneous speech.

The occurrence of disfluencies in fully natural speech poses difficult challenges for spoken language understanding systems. For example, although self-repairs occur in about 10% of spontaneous utterances, they are often unmodeled in speech recognition systems. This is partly due to the fact that little is known about the extent to which cues in the speech signal may facilitate automatic repair processing. In this paper, acoustic and prosodic cues to self-repairs are identified, based on an analysis of a corpus taken from the ARPA Air Travel Information System database, and methods are proposed for exploiting these cues for repair detection, especially the task of modeling word fragments, and repair correction. The relative contributions of these speech-based cues, as well as other text-based repair cues, are examined in a statistical model of repair site detection that achieves a precision rate of 91% and recall of 86% on a prosodically labeled corpus of repair utterances.

Artificial Intelligence↗

Mathematical modeling of vowel perception by users of analog multichannel cochlear implants: temporal and channel-amplitude cues.

A "multidimensional phoneme identification" (MPI) model is proposed to account for vowel perception by cochlear implant users. A multidimensional extension of the Durlach-Braida model of intensity perception, this model incorporates an internal noise model and a decision model to account separately for errors due to poor sensitivity and response bias. The MPI model provides a complete quantitative description of how listeners encode and combine acoustic cues, and how they use this information to determine which sound they heard. Thus, it allows for testing specific hypotheses about phoneme identification in a very stringent fashion. As an example of the model's application, vowel identification matrices obtained with synthetic speech stimuli (including "conflicting cue" conditions [Dorman et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 92, 3428-3432 (1992)] were examined. The listeners were users of the "compressed-analog" stimulation strategy, which filters the speech spectrum into four partly overlapping frequency bands and delivers each signal to one of four electrodes in the cochlea. It was found that a simple model incorporating one temporal cue (i.e., an acoustic cue based only on the time waveforms delivered to the most basal channel) and spectral cues (based on the distribution of amplitudes among channels) can be quite successful in explaining listener responses. The new approach represented by the MPI model may be used to obtain useful insights about speech perception by cochlear implant users in particular, and by all kinds of listeners in general.

Cochlear Implantation↗

Qualitative versus directional cues in two forms of differentiation.

Dogs given opportunities to base their instrumental conditioned responses in differentiation learning on either the quality of the auditory conditioned stimulus (for example, metronome versus buzzer) or the direction of its source (in front or behind) choose different cues in different tasks. In S(1)--> R(1), S(2)-->R(2) (left leg-right leg) differentiation they exclusively use directional cues and are almost unable to learn this task when only quality cues are available. When confronted with Pavlovian S +--> R, S ---> no R (go-no go) differentiation, however, they generally learn on the basis of quality cues, although some animals also attend to the directional cues. Thus an animal's success or failure in a given differentiation procedure depends not only on its ability to discriminate the stimuli but also on the task with which it is confronted.

Animals↗

The influence of external timing cues upon the rhythm of voluntary movements in Parkinson's disease.

The ability of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and healthy subjects to synchronise finger tapping, produced by rhythmic wrist movements, with auditory signals of target frequencies (range 1-5 Hz) and to sustain such rhythms following sudden withdrawal of auditory cues was studied. Healthy subjects were able, in the presence of auditory cues, to duplicate target frequencies accurately over the range investigated both in terms of mean tapping rate and in regularity of tapping. PD patients were less accurate under these conditions and on average tended to tap too rapidly at the lower (1-3 Hz) target frequencies and too slowly at the highest (5 Hz) target frequency. In addition, the variability of their tapping rhythms was generally greater. Healthy subjects were able to sustain tapping rhythms well following suppression of auditory signals. By contrast, withdrawal of external timing cues resulted in marked impairment of the patients' rhythm generation. At lower frequency targets (1-3 Hz) patients' tapping rates increased over rates which were already elevated in the presence of external cues. Conversely, at higher target frequencies (4-5 Hz), the average tapping rate tended to decline further from previously depressed levels. The accuracy of almost all patients fell outside the normal range. Two patterns of tapping errors were found. The first was hastening of tapping which was most evident at intermediate target frequencies. The second was faltering which occurred mainly at the higher target frequencies. These forms of behaviour may result from inherent abnormalities of internal rhythm generation since they occurred both in the presence and absence of external timing signals. Overall, our findings are consistent with the view that the basal ganglia have a role in the internal cueing of repetitive voluntary movements.

Aged↗

Reduction in external cues and movement sequencing in Parkinson's disease.

To identify the focus of impairment in the performance of sequential movements of patients with Parkinson's disease, the extent of their reliance on external cues was examined. Eighteen patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and their matched controls performed a series of button presses at sequential choice points along a response board. The illuminated pathway to be followed successively extinguished ahead of each move according to three levels of reduction of external cues. Patients with Parkinson's disease were particularly disadvantaged with high levels of reduction of external cueing in terms both of movement preparation time (button down time) and movement execution time (movement time between buttons). Moreover, with high levels of reduction of external cueing, patients with Parkinson's disease were particularly subject to progressive slowing (movement time, not down time) further down the sequence. The basal ganglia may help generate internal cues for releasing successive stages of a predefined movement sequence.

Aged↗

Reliance on external cues during serial sequential movement in major depression.

Maintenance of motor set in patients with unipolar major depression was examined. Twelve melancholic and 12 non-melancholic depressed patients and 24 age matched controls performed a serial choice reaction time task while external cues aiding maintenance of a motor set were systematically removed. Melancholic patients were significantly slower than controls with no reduction in external cues and with a moderate reduction in external cues. At a high level of reduction in external cues, seven of 12 melancholic patients (but only three of 12 non-melancholic patients and controls) were unable to complete the task; suggesting a greater reliance on external cues, perhaps implicating a failure of motor planning ability in melancholic patients. This, in turn, may point to a prefrontal (premotor) deficit in melancholic depression, with possible commonalities with Parkinson's disease.

Adult↗

Spectral cues explain illusory elevation effects with stereo sounds in cats.

Mammals localize sound sources in azimuth based on two binaural cues, interaural differences in the time of arrival and level of the sounds at the ears. In contrast, the cue for elevation is based on patterns of the broadband power spectra at each ear that result from the direction-dependent acoustic filtering properties of the head and pinnae. Although the exact form of this "spectral shape" cue is unknown, most attention has been directed toward a prominent direction-dependent energy minimum, or "notch," because its location in frequency, for both humans and cats, moves predictably from low to high as a source is moved from low to high elevations. However, there is little direct evidence that these spectral notches are important elevational cues in animals other than humans. Here we demonstrate a striking illusion in the localization of sounds in elevation by cats using stimulus configurations that elicit summing localization and the precedence effect that can be explained by spectral shape cues.

Animals↗

Interactions between idiothetic cues and external landmarks in the control of place cells and head direction cells.

Two types of neurons in the rat brain have been proposed to participate in spatial learning and navigation: place cells, which fire selectively in specific locations of an environment and which may constitute key elements of cognitive maps, and head direction cells, which fire selectively when the rat's head is pointed in a specific direction and which may serve as an internal compass to orient the cognitive map. The spatially and directionally selective properties of these cells arise from a complex interaction between input from external landmarks and from idiothetic cues; however, the exact nature of this interaction is poorly understood. To address this issue, directional information from visual landmarks was placed in direct conflict with directional information from idiothetic cues. When the mismatch between the two sources of information was small (45 degrees), the visual landmarks had robust control over the firing properties of place cells; when the mismatch was larger, however, the firing fields of the place cells were altered radically, and the hippocampus formed a new representation of the environment. Similarly, the visual cues had control over the firing properties of head direction cells when the mismatch was small (45 degrees), but the idiothetic input usually predominated over the visual landmarks when the mismatch was larger. Under some conditions, when the visual landmarks predominated after a large mismatch, there was always a delay before the visual cues exerted their control over head direction cells. These results support recent models proposing that prewired intrinsic connections enable idiothetic cues to serve as the primary drive on place cells and head direction cells, whereas modifiable extrinsic connections mediate a learned, secondary influence of visual landmarks.

Aging↗

Testing licensing by cue: a case of Russian palatalized coronals.

The hypothesis 'licensing by cue' by Steriade holds that phonological contrasts are maintained in environments that provide better acoustic cues to the contrasts and are neutralized in environments that provide poorer acoustic cues or no cues. This paper tests the hypothesis by examining the distribution of a phonological contrast--the Russian plain/palatalized coronal stops /t/ and /tj/ in various syllable-final contexts. The results of a series of acoustic and perceptual experiments presented in this paper provide some support for the hypothesis: the relative salience of releases in different word boundary contexts (_#k > _#n, _#s) correlates strongly with the general patterns of neutralization of the contrast in similar word-internal contexts (_k > _n, _s) in Russian and other related languages. At the same time, the relative salience of VC transitions in different vowel contexts (a_ > u_ > i_) has apparently little to do with attested patterns of neutralization. The results suggest that some perceptual cues are phonologically more relevant than others, providing evidence for interactions between phonetics and phonology more complex than predicted by the hypothesis.

Adult↗

Cue exposure therapy for the treatment of opiate addiction: results of a randomized controlled clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Persistent cue reactivity to drug-related stimuli is a well-known phenomenon among abstinent drug users and has been found to be a predictor of relapse. Cue exposure therapy (CET) aims to reduce this cue reactivity by exposing abstinent drug users to conditioned drug-related stimuli while preventing their habitual response, i.e. drug use. METHODS: 127 abstinent heroin-dependent Dutch inpatients were randomized to CET (n = 65; 55 completers) and placebo psychotherapy treatment (PPT) (n = 62; 59 completers). It was examined whether CET would lead to a decrease in drug-related cue reactivity (using mixed-design ANOVA) and subsequently to lower dropout and relapse rates (using logistic regression) compared to PPT. RESULTS: Both groups responded with a similar decrease in self-reported cue reactivity (craving, mood). The CET group did show a significant decrease in physiological reactivity (skin conductance) compared to PPT. However, dropout and relapse rates were, contrary to our expectations, significantly higher in the CET group. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first randomized controlled trial showing that CET, compared to a non-specific psychotherapy, might increase dropout and relapse rates among abstinent heroin-dependent clients in a drug-free setting. Caution is warranted when applying CET in this specific context.

Adult↗

Tryptophan depletion and attenuation of cue-induced craving for cocaine.

OBJECTIVE: Although cocaine is a potent serotonin (5-HT) reuptake blocker, the role of 5-HT systems in cocaine craving and relapse in humans has been unclear. The authors evaluated whether acute reductions in central 5-HT synthesis modulated craving for cocaine in cocaine-dependent patients. METHOD: Twenty-five cocaine-dependent male inpatients were exposed to cocaine-craving cues while their 5-HT levels were lowered and during a placebo condition in a counterbalanced, double-blind design. 5-HT levels were reduced by rapidly lowering plasma levels of its precursor, tryptophan; tryptophan levels were reduced by stimulating protein synthesis with a large drink of amino acids devoid of tryptophan. During the placebo condition the patients drank an identical amino acid drink containing tryptophan. Craving was induced by exposing patients to cocaine paraphernalia and a videotape depicting drug use. Craving was assessed 7 hours after ingestion of the drink. Visual analog ratings of craving for cocaine were administered before and after cue exposure at each test session. RESULTS: Patients reported less desire for cocaine stimulated by cue exposure after drinking amino acids without tryptophan than they did after drinking placebo. The order that tryptophan depletion and placebo tests were performed influenced the impact of tryptophan depletion on cue-induced craving. CONCLUSIONS: Serotonergic systems modulate cue-induced craving for cocaine, a factor implicated in relapse to cocaine use.

Adult↗

The smoking Stroop and delay discounting in smokers: effects of environmental smoking cues.

We investigated the effects of exposure to environmental smoking-related cues (holding a lit cigarette in an environment previously associated with smoking) on cigarette craving, colour naming of smoking-related words in a modified Stroop task, and on the delay discounting of hypothetical rewards, in daily cigarette smokers (N = 30). Compared to exposure to neutral cues, exposure to smoking-related cues was associated with increased cigarette craving and slower colour naming of smoking-related compared to matched control words. However, smoking cues had no effect on delay discounting. These results suggest that smoking cues increase craving and the ability of smoking-related words to grab the attention, but do not influence impulsive decision-making. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.

Adult↗

Relationship of cues to assessed infant pain level.

Cues that 46 pediatric nurses with a BS in Nursing reported as key to their pain assessments of 88 videotaped infants, ages 0 to 12 months, are identified. Frequencies with which these cues were used for infants of different ages and the relationships between key cues and assessed levels of pain are described. Greater pain was strongly associated with tears, stiff posture, guarding, and fisting. Greater pain was moderately associated with inadequate type or dosage of analgesia, more recent surgery, inconsolability, difficult to distract, does not focus on surroundings, frown, grimace, wrinkled face, flushed face, pain cry, and increased arousal in response to touch of sore area. Internurse variability in cue use was sizable. Most of the often-used cues had weak or no association with assessed pain level. Only consolability, pain cry, grimace, and stiff posture were frequently used and correlated > .51 with assessed level of pain.

Clinical Nursing Research↗

Use of multiple orientation cues by juvenile loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta.

Although the orientation cues used by hatchling sea turtles have been studied extensively, little is known about the mechanisms of orientation and navigation that guide older turtles. To investigate the orientation cues used by juvenile loggerheads Caretta caretta L., captured turtles were tethered in a water-filled arena located outdoors. Turtles tested under these conditions established and maintained headings in specific directions in the absence of wave cues, familiar landmarks and chemical gradients. Distorting the magnetic field around the anterior part of a turtle's body did not disrupt orientation if vision remained unimpaired. Similarly, eliminating visual cues by attaching frosted goggles did not disrupt orientation if the magnetic environment was undisturbed. However, when turtles experienced a simultaneous disruption of magnetic and visual cues, their orientation was altered. These results imply that sea turtles, like migratory birds and homing pigeons, are able to maintain headings using multiple sources of directional information.

Animals↗

Does the cue help? Children's understanding of multiplicative concepts in different problem contexts.

BACKGROUND: Understanding arithmetical principles is a key part of a conceptual understanding of mathematics. However, very little attention has been paid to children's understanding of multiplicative, as compared to additive, principles. AIMS: This study investigated (a) children's ability to use commutative and distributive cues to solve multiplication problems, (b) whether their ability to use these cues depends on the problem context, and (c) whether separate mechanisms might underlie children's understanding of commutativity and distributivity. SAMPLE: Twenty-seven 9-year-olds (Year 5) and thirty-two 10-year-olds (Year 6). METHODS: Forty-eight multiplication problems (with a multiple-choice response format) were presented to children. There were four types of problem: Commutative, Distributive, Combined commutative-distributive (all preceded by a cue) and No cue problems. Each type of problem was presented in three different contexts: Isomorphism of measures, Area, and Cartesian product. RESULTS: Children demonstrated a good understanding of commutativity but a very poor understanding of distributivity. A common mistake in the distributive problems was to select the number that was one more, or one less, than the answer in the cue. Children's understanding of distributivity (but not commutativity) seemed to depend on the problem context. Factor analysis suggested that separate factors underlie the ability to solve commutative and distributive problems. CONCLUSIONS: Nine- and 10-year-olds understand commutativity, but are unable to use the distributive principle in multiplication. Their errors suggest that they may confuse some of the principles of multiplication with those of addition. When children do begin to understand the principle of distributivity, they most easily apply it in the context of Isomorphism of measures multiplication problems. The implications for mathematical education are discussed.

Child↗

Multimedia instructions and cognitive load theory: effects of modality and cueing.

BACKGROUND: Recent research on the influence of presentation format on the effectiveness of multimedia instructions has yielded some interesting results. According to cognitive load theory (Sweller, Van Merriënboer, & Paas, 1998) and Mayer's theory of multimedia learning (Mayer, 2001), replacing visual text with spoken text (the modality effect) and adding visual cues relating elements of a picture to the text (the cueing effect) both increase the effectiveness of multimedia instructions in terms of better learning results or less mental effort spent. AIMS: The aim of this study was to test the generalisability of the modality and cueing effect in a classroom setting. SAMPLE: The participants were 111 second-year students from the Department of Education at the University of Gent in Belgium (age between 19 and 25 years). METHOD: The participants studied a web-based multimedia lesson on instructional design for about one hour. Afterwards they completed a retention and a transfer test. During both the instruction and the tests, self-report measures of mental effort were administered. RESULTS: Adding visual cues to the pictures resulted in higher retention scores, while replacing visual text with spoken text resulted in lower retention and transfer scores. CONCLUSIONS: Only a weak cueing effect and even a reverse modality effect have been found, indicating that both effects do not easily generalise to non-laboratory settings. A possible explanation for the reversed modality effect is that the multimedia instructions in this study were learner-paced, as opposed to the system-paced instructions used in earlier research.

Adult↗