Nine experiments were done to test three theories of auditory stream segregation and to investigate some conditions under which segregated tones re-integrate. In two-part trials, subjects (adults with normal hearing) first heard a segregation-inducing "Induction Sequence" whose effects upon an immediately subsequent "Test Sequence" were measured. The Test Sequence always had tones that alternated rhythmically between two frequencies. Rhythm and total duration of Induction Sequence tones were varied in the first two studies. Similarity of Induction and Test Sequences aided segregation whereas rhythmic predictability and longer tone durations in the Induction Sequence did not. Frequency alternation during the Induction Sequence was not necessary to induce segregation in the Test Sequence. The effects of sudden and gradual changes in lateralization, spatial location and sound level were investigated also. The data suggest that explaining segregation by peripheral processes is inadequate and that, once a distinct percept emerges from an auditory scene, properties derived from the percept (particularly changes) are fed back to control the ongoing analysis of that scene. A neural adaptation to stimuli with constant properties may form part of this analysis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.70309 |
| Date | January 1991 |
| Creators | Rogers, Wendy Laurel |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001275718, proquestno: AAINN74750, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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