This thesis centres around a sensory theory of protolanguage emergence, or STP. The STP proposes that shared biases to make associations between sensory modalities provided the basis for the emergence of a shared protolinguistic lexicon. Crucially, this lexicon would have been grounded in our perceptual systems, and thus fundamentally non-arbitrary. The foundation of such a lexicon lies in shared cross-modal associations: biases shared among language users to map properties in one modality (e.g., visual size) onto another (e.g., vowel sounds). While there is broad evidence that we make associations between a variety of modalities (Spence, 2011), this thesis focuses specifically on associations involving linguistic sound, arguing that these associations would have been most important in language emergence. Early linguistic utterances, by virtue of their grounding in shared cross-modal associations, could be formed and understood with high mutual intelligibility. The first chapter of the thesis will outline this theory in detail, addressing the nature of the proposed protolanguage system, arguing for the utility of non-arbitrariness at the point of language emergence, and proposing evidence for the likely transition form a non-arbitrary protolanguage to the predominantly arbitrary language systems we observe today. The remainder of the thesis will focus on providing empirical evidence to support this theory in two ways: (i) presenting experimental data showing evidence of shared associations between linguistic sound and other modalities, and (ii) providing evidence that such associations are evident cross-linguistically, despite the predominantly arbitrary nature of modern languages. Chapter two will examine well-documented associations between vowel quality and physical size (e.g., /i/ is small, and /a/ is large; Sapir, 1929). This chapter presents a new experimental approach which fails to find robust associations between vowel quality and size absent the use of a forced choice paradigm. Chapter three turns to associations between linguistic sound and shape angularity, taking a critical perspective on the classic takete/maluma experiment (Kohler, 1929). New empirical evidence shows that the acquisition of visual word forms plays a highly influential role in mediating associations between linguistic sound and angularity, but that associations between linguistic sound and visual form also play a minor role in auditory tasks. Chapter four will examine a relatively unexplored modality: taste. A simple survey which asks participants to choose non-words to match representative tastes shows that certain linguistic sounds are preferred for certain food items. In a more detailed study, we use a more direct perceptual matching task with actual tastants and synthesises speech sounds, further showing that people make robust shared associations between linguistic sound and taste. Chapter five returns to the visual modality, considering previously unexmained associations between linguistic sound and motion, specifically the feature of speed. This study demonstrates that people do make robust associations between the two modalities, particularly for vowel quality. Chapter six will aim to take a different empirical approach, considering non-arbitrariness in natural language. Motivated by the experimental data from the previous chapters, we turn to corpus analyses to assess the presence of non-arbitrariness in natural language which concurs with behavioural data showing linguistic cross-modal associations. First, a corpus analysis of taste synonyms in English shows small but significant correlations between form and meaning. With the goal of addressing the universality of specific sound-meaning associations, we examine cross-linguistic corpora of taste and motion terms, showing that particular phonological features tend to connect to certain tastes and types of motion across genetically and geographically distinct languages. Lastly, the thesis will conclude by considering the STP in light of the empirical evidence presented, and suggesting possible future empirical directions to explore the theory more broadly.

Evarcha culicivora, a species of jumping spider (Araneae: Salticidae from the Lake Victoria region of East Africa, has unusual prey-choice behaviour. It preferred prey is blood-carrying mosquitoes. It also has unusually complex mate-choice behaviour, with mutual mate choice being pronounced. This thesis is a study of E. culicivora’s prey-choice behaviour and mate-choice behaviour, as well as a study of processes underlying selective attention in this unusual species. E. culicivora uses olfaction in unique and often surprising ways. This includes identifying potential mates by odour alone, as well as choosing the odour of potential mates that have recently fed on blood-carrying mosquitoes. The odour of potential mates also primes both sexes for escalating conflict with potential rivals, as well as priming selective attention to the masked odour of specifically potential mates. Besides all this, the odour of blood-carrying mosquitoes primes E. culicivora to selectively attend to the masked odour of specifically this prey. Moreover, the appearance of blood-carrying mosquitoes and of potential mates primes E. culicivora to selectively attend to specifically the appearance of cryptic blood-carrying mosquitoes and cryptic potential mates, respectively. Vision and olfaction can even work together, with olfactory and visual cues from blood-carrying mosquitoes priming E. culicivora to selectively attend to the appearance and odour, respectively, of blood-carrying mosquitoes. Furthermore, E. culicivora has a poorly-understood relationship with two plant species, Lantana camara and Ricinus communis, and E. culicivora can identify these two plant species by odour alone. These plants may be relevant to this salticid as a nectar source by which it supplements its insect diet, but these plants may also be as sites at which E. culicivora males and females find potential mates, with E. culicivora’s interactions on these plants being especially exaggerated and complex.

This research investigates the music-theatre phenomenon for the purpose of: clarifying how that differs from more traditional forms of musical theatre, i.e., Opera and Broadway musical; discussing its aesthetic bases; explicating its modes of operation in relation to both music and theatre. The writing is structured in three main parts. The first concern of the discussion is to clarify the connection between music and performance. To that end, Part One starts by reflecting on the nature of music and how its perception has been changed by modern technology, throwing live performance into question. The notions of physicality, embodiment, and gesture are then invoked in order to re-position music firmly within the performing arts. Part Two then delves into music-theatre touching on issues of terminology, artistic scope, positioning, production, funding, structures, institutions. Part Three, finally, offers some conclusions and recommendations. The Thesis is then followed by a commentary to the portfolio of compositions accompanying this research. The musical scores and audio-visual material relative to the works therein discussed are included on 1 separately bound volume.

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What happens when we see an object of a certain material but the sounds that it makes comes from another material? Whilst it is an interesting question, it is an area that is under researched. Though there has been some previous research in the field the visuals have been represented using textures on simple shapes like cubes or spheres. Since this is not how humans experience materials in the real world there is a possibility that the research that has been done is not generalizable or ecologically valid. We wanted to see what would happen if this type of test was performed using 3D models that looked like real-life objects that most people would be familiar with. In order to test this, we gathered impact sounds and 3D models to represent nine different materials and created a program in virtual reality that allowed us to test all the possible combinations of sounds and visuals. These tests were performed with 15 participants who selected which material they believed each audiovisual combination represented. Our results showed a higher tendency to rely on audio cues for material perception compared to previous tests. This is interesting since we increased the visual fidelity while the quality of the audio was comparable to the previous tests. One theory is that the increase in visual fidelity makes the visuals so much clearer that participants started focusing more on trying to understand the audio. / Vad händer när vi ser ett föremål av ett visst material men ljuden som det gör kommer från ett annat material? Även om det är en intressant fråga, är det ett område som är underforskat. Även om det har gjorts en del tidigare forskning på området har det visuella representerats med hjälp av texturer på enkla former som kuber eller sfärer. Eftersom det inte är så människor upplever material i den verkliga världen finns det en möjlighet att den forskning som har gjorts inte är generaliserbar eller ekologiskt giltig. Vi ville se vad som skulle hända om den här typen av test utfördes med 3Dmodeller som såg ut som verkliga objekt som de flesta skulle känna till. För att testa detta samlade vi in ljud från kollisioner och 3Dmodeller för att representera nio olika material och skapade ett program i virtuell verklighet som gjorde att vi kunde testa alla möjliga kombinationer av ljud och bild. Dessa tester utfördes med 15 deltagare som valde vilket material de trodde att varje audiovisuell kombination representerade. Våra resultat visade en högre tendens att förlita sig på ljudet för uppfattning av materialet jämfört med tidigare tester. Detta är intressant eftersom vi ökade den visuella detaljrikedomen medan ljudets kvalité var jämförbart med de tidigare testerna. En teori är att ökningen av visuell detaljrikedom gör det visuella så mycket tydligare att deltagarna började fokusera mer på att försöka förstå ljudet.

The present research examined emotions that automatically and implicitly trigger pictures of nature and the city, with the affective priming technique, and determined if the same phenomenon that has been studied in unimodal experiments was replicated in cross modality experiments. The sample included 57 psychology students from a Mexican public university who were exposed to images of natural and urban environments. They used words with positive and negative emotional connotations. The results are similar to other research studies, and indicate that there are two types of participants, and not all participants displayed positive emotions towards nature. The findings are discussed in terms of the cognitive mechanisms of the technique. / La presente investigación examinó las emociones que desencadenan imágenes de naturaleza y ciudad de forma automática e implícita con la técnica de facilitación afectiva y determinar si el mismo fenómeno que se ha estudiado en experimentos unimodales se repite en la modalidad cruzada. Participaron un total de 57 estudiantes de una universidad pública mexicana, donde se les expuso a imágenes de ambientes naturales y urbanos como facilitadores. Como objetivos se utilizaron palabras con connotación emocional positiva y negativa. Los resultados indican que al igual que en otras investigaciones, existen dos grupos de participantes, en donde no todos poseen emociones positivas hacia la naturaleza. Se discuten los resultados en términos de los mecanismos cognitivos que existen dentro de la técnica.

Cross modality matching is a magnitude matching procedure, developed to study the relationships between sensory modalities. Auditory and visual sensory integration can be examined through cross modality matching of brightness and loudness. Brightness and loudness are natural correlates of one another as they both represent the parameter of intensity for their respective sensory modalities. Past studies have demonstrated that typical individuals tend to match brighter lights with louder sounds and dimmer lights with softer sounds. The current study utilized a modified cross modality matching procedure, combined with electroencephalography (EEG) data, to examine the cortical response to sensory integration. It was hypothesized that the response latency and cortical distribution of the EEG data would show differences between matched and unmatched conditions of light and sound stimuli. Light and sound stimuli were presented to 10 participants (five males and five females between the ages of 18 and 28 years) in a forced choice paradigm. The behavioral responses, reaction times, and EEG data were recorded for each patient. Results demonstrated that there were significant differences in behavioral reaction time among the stimulus conditions. However, reaction times were only significantly faster for the loudest sound paired with the brightest light. No other pairs of matched stimuli resulted in faster reaction times. Event related potentials (ERPs) were identified for matched and unmatched stimulus conditions. No differences were identified in latency of the ERPs among conditions. Additionally, source localization revealed that dipole locations for each stimulus condition remained relatively constant in the prefrontal cortex. As the prefrontal cortex has been found to be associated with decision-making and sensory integration, it can be concluded that sensory integration did occur. However, the processing of sensory information did not change for matched or unmatched conditions of light and sound.

With covid-19 affecting people's ability to smell, it might be of interest to find multimodal solutions, where other senses could assist someone with an impaired sense of smell to identify an odor. This area of research lacks data since there has not been many studies on this. Moreover, there are studies that tried to find a connection between sound and smell in other contexts. The goal of this study was to find if it is possible to communicate an odor, with the help of foley sound, to someone with an impaired sense of smell. This required answers to questions regarding whether people, with and without a changed sense of smell, can improve their odor identification with the help of sound and if foley is an effective method for it. This was tested by first collecting sound associations to odors, as well as cultural associations. The data were analyzed to find common themes to choose the sounds that would be used. The participants in the study were asked to make free identifications after being presented with odor pens together with additional stimuli cues. The experiment included tests with an associated color, a matching foley sound, a matching soundscape, an incongruent color and an incongruent foley sound. The results showed that sound in general has a positive impact on someone's identification capabilities, which were measured by counting the amount of right answers on each test. The odors coffee, fish and leather had foley sound that greatly increased the amount of correct answers whilst the foley sound to lemon, rose and peppermint had less of an impact. People with an imparied sense of smell were affected similarly to the different stimuli as people without an impairment. Since identification of odors are dependent on prior experiences, some odors could be harder or easier to identify. In order to create an auditory icon for an odor there needs to be strong collective associations for it to be efficient in relaying information and not being distracting. / Covid-19 har haft en negativ effekt på människors förmåga att känna lukt, och därmed finns det ett intresse av att undersöka och hitta multimodala lösningar där andra sinnen kan hjälpa att identifiera en lukt. Det har inget större omfång av liknande forskning inom detta område. Däremot finns det studier som försökt hitta en koppling mellan ljud och lukt i andra kontexter. Målet med denna studie var att ta reda på ifall ljud kunde hjälpa att kommunicera en lukt för någon med försämrat luktsinne. Detta innebar att besvara frågor huruvida foleyljud kan förbättra människors luktidentifieringsförmåga, både för dem med nedsatt luktförmåga och oförändrat luktsinne. Det innebar också att testa ifall foleyljud är effektivare än andra typer av ljud. Forskningsfrågorna testades genom att först samla in ljud associationer till olika lukter, samt kulturella associationer. Datan analyserades för att hitta gemensamma teman att göra ljud av. Deltagarna i studien ombads skriva fria identifieringar efter att ha presenterats med doftpennor, samtidigt som de utsattes för ett annat stimulus. De stimulikombinationer som testades var doft med associerad färg, doft med ett tillhörande foleyljud, doft med en tillhörande ljudbild, samt versioner med inkongruent färg och inkongruent foleyljud. Resultatet visar att ljud har en positiv påverkan på personers identifieringsförmåga, vilket mättes med hur många som skrev rätt doft på varje test. Lukterna kaffe, fisk och läder hade foleyljud som ökade antalet rätta svar medan foleyljud till lukterna citron, ros och pepparmynta hade en mindre påverkan. Personer med nedsatt luktsinne påverkades på liknande sätt av de olika testerna som folk utan påverkan. Då luktperception påverkas av tidigare erfarenheter kan olika lukter vara svårare eller lättare att identifiera. För att lukt ska kunna sonifieras behövs starka kollektiva associationer som är tillräckligt kända för att lättare förmedla information och inte distrahera lyssnaren.

<p><strong>Background: </strong>Many persons with aphasia (PWA) show deficits in sentence production and comprehension which are, in part, attributed to an inefficient mapping between messages and syntactic structures. Structural priming—the tendency to repeat a previously encountered sentence structure—has been shown to support implicit syntactic learning within and across production and comprehension modalities in healthy adults. Structural priming is effective in facilitating the production or comprehension of sentences in PWA. However, less is known about whether priming in one modality changes PWA’s performance in the other modality, which is crucial evidence needed for developing structural priming as a cost-effective intervention strategy in aphasia.</p> <p><strong>Aims</strong>: This study examined (a) whether production to comprehension cross-modality priming is effective in PWA, (b) whether priming-induced changes in syntactic comprehension lasted even in the absence of an immediate prime, and (c) whether there is a significant correlation between individuals’ priming effects and the change in their comprehension following priming.</p> <p><strong>Methods & Procedures: </strong>Thirteen PWA and 13 age-matched control participants completed a training study comprised of three phases: a pre-test, a production-to-comprehension priming block, and a post-test. In the pre- and post-tests, participants completed a sentence-picture matching task with sentences involving interpretations of an ambiguous prepositional phrase (e.g., The teacher is poking the monk <u>with a bat</u>). Participants were free to choose a picture corresponding to a high attachment (HA; e.g., the teacher is using the bat to poke the monk) or a low attachment (LA; e.g., the monk is the one holding the bat) interpretation. In the priming block, participants produced LA sentences as prime and then completed a sentence-picture matching task for comprehension targets, similar to the pre-test. </p> <p><strong>Results</strong>: Age-matched controls and PWA showed a significant priming effect when comparing the priming block to the pre-test. In both groups, the priming effect persisted when comparing picture selections in the pre- and post-tests. At the individual level, age-matched controls who showed larger priming effects also selected more LA pictures in the post-test compared to the pre-test, indicating that the priming effect accounted for the magnitude of change from the pre- to post-test. This correlation was also found in PWA.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion</strong>: The findings of this study suggest that production-to-comprehension cross-modality priming is effective and persistent in PWA and controls, in line with the view that structural priming is a form of implicit learning. Further, the findings support sentence processing models that suggest syntactic representations are shared between production and comprehension, and therefore, production influences future comprehension. Cross-modality priming from production to comprehension has clinical potential to improve sentence processing in PWA. </p>

This thesis examines nonhuman phenomenological experiences, communication, and sensory perception in Barbara Gowdy’s The White Bone. Drawing on literary and pedagogical theories by Roman Bartosch, Monika Fludernik, Marco Caracciolo, David Herman, and Judith Langer, the thesis argues that Gowdy’s novel employs narrative strategies and devices that involve nonhuman experientiality evoked from sensorial configurations, narration, and textual cognitive and embodied experiences. These represented experiences disrupt human primacy by establishing a disorientation that challenges the anthropocentric bias in the novel and decenters the human reader. Moreover, the thesis offers suggestions for using the novel in conjunction with envisionment building to discuss animal alterity and anthropocentrism in the Swedish EFL classroom.