Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-06-03T13:53:36Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Debora Fontoura de Oliveira_.pdf: 2619652 bytes, checksum: e8c53e9ee6aabe91ccc15fcccae1c55c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-06-03T13:53:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Debora Fontoura de Oliveira_.pdf: 2619652 bytes, checksum: e8c53e9ee6aabe91ccc15fcccae1c55c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-09 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / PROSUP - Programa de Suporte à Pós-Gradução de Instituições de Ensino Particulares / Este trabalho visa apresentar e avaliar as diferentes teorias sobre o processo perceptivo, a fim de defender que a percepção é um processo objetivo, categórico e não conceitual. A ideia é, juntamente com a posição adotada por Tyler Burge,assegurar que a percepção é um processo representacional no qual a experiência perceptual consiste na apreensão direta dos dados sensoriais, os quais servem de base para a construção das representações perceptuais. As representações perceptuais são concebidas como proxytypes, que servem como o conteúdo não conceitual da percepção e correspondem ao mundo externo. Estes representam os objetos e os estados de coisas do mundo devido a uma semelhança entre as propriedades dos objetos e as propriedades sensoriais representadas pelos indivíduos. Os objetos e as suas propriedades são, então, representados a partir da integração das informações sensoriais pelo mecanismo da percepção categórica, o qual é responsável pela discriminação e identificação dessas informações em categorias perceptuais independentes de estruturas conceituais. Desse modo, propomos que a percepção é objetiva por dois motivos: (a) porque ela é um processo que pressupõe como verdadeiro um realismo frente ao mundo físico e nos permite acessar e conhecer os objetos dispostos no mundo de modo objetivo, e (b) por ser um processo que é alcançado tanto por animais humanos quanto não humanos. Ela é um processo categórico porque ela admite que as informações sensoriais são categorizadas em representações perceptuais durante a própria experiência perceptiva, função esta realizada pela percepção categórica. Ao mesmo tempo, ela é não conceitual, uma vez que qualquer criatura, dotada de um sistema sensorial e nervoso, é capaz de perceber o mundo mesmo quando ela não possui um conceito para descrever dado conteúdo ou ainda não possua a capacidade de se referir a ele demonstrativamente. / This work aims to present and evaluate different theories regarding the perceptual process, defending that the perception is an objective, categorical and non-conceptual process. The idea is to, along with Tyler Burge’s position, ensure that the perception is a representational process where the perceptual experience consists in the direct apprehension of sensory data, which are used as the basis for the construction of perceptual representations. The perceptual representations are designed as proxytypes, and they serve as the non-conceptual content of the perception and correspond to the outside world. They represent the objects and the states of affairs of the world due to a similarity between the properties of the objects and the sensory properties represented by the individuals. The objects and their properties are then represented through the integration of sensory information by the mechanism of categorical perception, which is responsible for the discrimination and identification of that information in perceptual categories, and are independent of conceptual structures. This way, we propose that the perception is objective for two reasons (a) because it is a process that assumes as true a realism of the physical world and allows us to access and understand the objects arranged in the world in an objective way, and (b) because it is a process that is accomplished by both human and non-human animals. Perception is a categorical process because it admits that sensory information is categorized into perceptual representations during the actual perceptual experience, and this function is performed by categorical perception. At the same time, it is not conceptual, since any creature equipped with a sensory and nervous system is able to perceive the world even if it does not have a concept for describing given contents or not yet has the ability to refer to them demonstratively.

Behavioral perceptions and cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) from native English (N=10) and Spanish speakers (N=10) were recorded for speech stimuli that constitute phonetically relevant categories of voicing. The stimuli were synthesized bilabial stop consonant-vowel syllables in a continuum ranging from/ba/to/pa/that varied in voice onset time (VOT) from 0 to 60ms. Different behavioral perceptions were evidenced by significantly different categorical phonetic boundaries between the two groups (p.05). Peak P1, N1, and P2 response latencies and P1–N1 and N1–P2 amplitudes increased significantly with increasing VOTs (p

Background: A link between musical expertise and auditory temporal processing abilities was examined. Material and methods: Trained musicians (n=13) and non-musicians (n=12) were tested on speech tasks (phonetic identification, speech recognition in noise) and non-speech tasks (temporal gap detection). Results: Results indicated musicians had shorter between-channel gap detection thresholds and sharper phonetic identification functions, suggesting that perceptual reorganization following musical training assists basic temporal auditory processes. Conclusions: In general, our results provide a conceptual advance in understanding how musical training influences speech processing, an ability which, when impaired, can affect speech and reading competency.

L’objectif général de cette thèse était de déterminer dans quelle mesure les entraînements auditifs pouvaient conduire à une modification de la perception du voisement en français en termes d’identification, de discrimination et de perception catégorielle (PC). L’originalité de notre méthodologie reposait sur l’étude à la fois des effets entraînements sur la perception d’un contraste particulier (e.g. +15/+45 ms DEV) mais également sur la perception catégorielle de stimuli variant le long d’un continuum (e.g. +75, +45, +15, -15, -45 et -75 ms DEV). En effet, la majorité des études de la littérature se limitent à étudier les effets des entraînements sur un contraste bien particulier (e.g. Golestani & Zatorre, 2004 ;Tremblay et al. 1998 ;Tremblay et al. 2001). Grâce à notre paradigme, il nous était possible de quantifier l’apprentissage sur un contraste spécifique mais aussi d’en étudier les éventuels effets de généralisation sur l’ensemble du continuum.<p><p>Dans une première étude, nous avons tenté d’évaluer les limites du système perceptif en matière d’extraction de l’information statistique en travaillant sur de fines différences acoustiques (Etude 1). Au fil des années, une partie de plus en plus importante de la littérature s’est développée, soutenant que la formation des catégories phonologiques reposait sur l’extraction des régularités statistiques existant dans la production des phonèmes. Cependant, en aucun cas la question des limites que pouvait imposer le système perceptif n’a été posée. Pour ce faire, nous avons décidé de déterminer dans quelle mesure l’exposition à une grande variabilité de stimuli séparés par de fines différences acoustiques pouvait conduire à l’amélioration des capacités de discrimination d’un contraste spécifique.<p><p>Par la suite, nous avons sommes concentrés sur la question des modifications de la PC suite à un entraînement. L’idée principale était de déterminer dans quelle mesure un entraînement centré sur une valeur particulière du continuum et mettant en jeu un contraste (i.e. opposition entre deux stimuli) pouvait avoir un impact sur la PC. Pour ce faire, nous avons commencé par entraîner des participants à identifier (Etude 2) des stimuli autour de trois frontières non-phonologiques (-30, -45 et -60 ms DEV). <p><p>Ensuite, nous avons entraîné d’autres participants à discriminer (Etude 3) des stimuli autour de deux frontières non-phonologiques (-30 et -45 ms DEV). Les modifications perceptives étaient évaluées sur différents paramètres qui caractérisent la PC (voir Introduction – La Perception Catégorielle) chez des adultes normo-entendant. Nos hypothèses reposaient sur l’idée selon laquelle, plus on s’éloigne de la frontière phonologique, plus les modifications perceptives seraient difficiles. Toutefois, les discontinuités perceptives pourraient interagir, facilitant ainsi les changements.<p>Sur base des résultats de ces études, nous nous sommes intéressés à la malléabilité de la perception catégorielle chez des enfants de troisième maternelle et de deuxième primaire (Etude 4). Dans ce cas, nous avons décidé d’entraîner les enfants à identifier des stimuli autour de la frontière phonologique du français (0 ms DEV) et autour d’une frontière non-phonologique (-30 ms DEV). L’idée sous-jacente était que les enfants, et plus particulièrement ceux qui n’avaient pas encore appris à lire, puissent être plus sensibles aux modifications perceptives imposées par leur environnement.<p><p>Par la suite, la question des entraînements auditifs comme source de changements chez les enfants et adultes normo-entendant s’est élargie aux pathologies et notamment dans les troubles spécifiques du langage (Etude 5). En effet, il est reconnu que ces enfants présentent des difficultés dans la perception des sons de parole et notamment du voisement. Dans cette étude, nous avons donc tenté de restructurer la PC au moyen d’un entraînement basé sur une tâche de discrimination. Malgré leur difficulté sévère à traiter le matériel auditif, ces enfants ne présentent pas des troubles de l’audition. Nous nous attendions donc à une amélioration de leurs habilités à percevoir le voisement.<p><p>Enfin, nous nous sommes interrogés sur les facteurs qui pouvaient contribuer, en plus des séances d’entraînement, à la consolidation des représentations phonologiques en mémoire. Parmi ceux-ci, la littérature dans le domaine visuel et moteur indique que le sommeil contribue à consolider ce qui a été appris. Nous avons donc décidé de nous intéresser aux rôles et aux bénéfices du sommeil dans la consolidation des apprentissages auditif chez des adultes normo-entendant (Etude 6).<p> / Doctorat en Sciences Psychologiques et de l'éducation / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

<p>This thesis investigated whether vocal emotion expressions are conveyed as discrete emotions or as continuous dimensions. </p><p>Study I consisted of a meta-analysis of decoding accuracy of discrete emotions (anger, fear, happiness, love-tenderness, sadness) within and across cultures. Also, the literature on acoustic characteristics of expressions was reviewed. Results suggest that vocal expressions are universally recognized and that there exist emotion-specific patterns of voice-cues for discrete emotions.</p><p>In Study II, actors vocally portrayed anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness with weak and strong emotion intensity. The portrayals were decoded by listeners and acoustically analyzed with respect to 20 voice-cues (e.g., speech rate, voice intensity, fundamental frequency, spectral energy distribution). Both the intended emotion and intensity of the portrayals were accurately decoded and had an impact on voice-cues. Listeners’ ratings of both emotion and intensity could be predicted from a selection of voice-cues.</p><p>In Study III, listeners rated the portrayals from Study II on emotion dimensions (activation, valence, potency, emotion intensity). All dimensions were correlated with several voice-cues. Listeners’ ratings could be successfully predicted from the voice-cues for all dimensions except valence.</p><p>In Study IV, continua of morphed expressions, ranging from one emotion to another in equal steps, were created using speech synthesis. Listeners identified the emotion of each expression and discriminated between pairs of expressions. The continua were perceived as two distinct sections separated by a sudden category boundary. Also, discrimination accuracy was generally higher for pairs of stimuli falling across category boundaries than for pairs belonging to the same category. This suggests that vocal expressions are categorically perceived.</p><p>Taken together, the results suggest that a discrete-emotions approach provides the best account of vocal expression. Previous difficulties in finding emotion-specific patterns of voice-cues may be explained in terms of limitations of previous studies and the coding of the communicative process.</p>

This thesis investigated whether vocal emotion expressions are conveyed as discrete emotions or as continuous dimensions. Study I consisted of a meta-analysis of decoding accuracy of discrete emotions (anger, fear, happiness, love-tenderness, sadness) within and across cultures. Also, the literature on acoustic characteristics of expressions was reviewed. Results suggest that vocal expressions are universally recognized and that there exist emotion-specific patterns of voice-cues for discrete emotions. In Study II, actors vocally portrayed anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness with weak and strong emotion intensity. The portrayals were decoded by listeners and acoustically analyzed with respect to 20 voice-cues (e.g., speech rate, voice intensity, fundamental frequency, spectral energy distribution). Both the intended emotion and intensity of the portrayals were accurately decoded and had an impact on voice-cues. Listeners’ ratings of both emotion and intensity could be predicted from a selection of voice-cues. In Study III, listeners rated the portrayals from Study II on emotion dimensions (activation, valence, potency, emotion intensity). All dimensions were correlated with several voice-cues. Listeners’ ratings could be successfully predicted from the voice-cues for all dimensions except valence. In Study IV, continua of morphed expressions, ranging from one emotion to another in equal steps, were created using speech synthesis. Listeners identified the emotion of each expression and discriminated between pairs of expressions. The continua were perceived as two distinct sections separated by a sudden category boundary. Also, discrimination accuracy was generally higher for pairs of stimuli falling across category boundaries than for pairs belonging to the same category. This suggests that vocal expressions are categorically perceived. Taken together, the results suggest that a discrete-emotions approach provides the best account of vocal expression. Previous difficulties in finding emotion-specific patterns of voice-cues may be explained in terms of limitations of previous studies and the coding of the communicative process.

This thesis explores the role of age in second language (L2) acquisition and first language (L1) attrition. The focus is on Voice Onset Time (VOT) in the production and categorical perception of word-initial L1 and L2 stops in highly advanced L1 Spanish learners of L2 Swedish. Using as the point of departure a maturational constraints perspective and the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH), Study I examines the impact of age of onset (AO) of L2 acquisition on the production of L2 Swedish voiceless stops. The results show that there are AO effects even in the speech of highly advanced L2 learners and that the incidence of nativelike L2 learners is considerably lower than earlier assumed. However, conclusions like these are only possible when speaking rate is accounted for, thereby highlighting the importance of speaking rate effects on VOT as a measure of nativelikeness. Like Study I, Study II reveals age effects on the same L2 learners’ categorical perceptions of L2 Swedish stops. Moreover, after combining the results with the data from Study I, the incidence of nativelike behavior drops remarkably with no late L2 learner performing within the range of native-speaker production and perception. The results suggest that L2 acquisition of phonetic/phonological aspects is especially sensitive to AO effects. It is concluded that theories on maturational constraints, including the CPH, cannot be refuted on the basis of the present data. Study III concerns the same participants’ production and perception of L1 Spanish stops. Age of reduced contact (ARC) is identified as an important predictor for L1 attrition and retention of voiceless stop production, although not of stop perception. This discrepancy is related to different activation thresholds as proposed by the Activation Threshold Hypothesis (ATH). It is further suggested that early bilinguals are more dependent on high-frequency L1 use than late bilinguals when compensating for age effects, but only in production. / <p>At the time of doctoral defence the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Accepted. Paper 2: In press. Paper 3: Manuscript.</p> / Age of onset and ultimate attainment in second language acquisition, The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation, grant no. 1999-0383:01 / First language attrition in advanced second language speakers, Swedish Research Council, grant no. 421-2004-1975