Roslyn P. Warren

Auditory Sequence: Confusion of Patterns Other Than Speech or Music

Accurate perception of temporal order is essential for many auditory tasks. Yet the temporal pattern of four successive sounds (for example, hisses, buzzes, and tones) could not be recognized even when the duration of each sound was considerably longer than either the average phoneme in normal discourse or the notes of melodies. Although each of the stimuli was perceived, their order remained frustratingly elusive.

Basis for Judgments of Relative Brightness

The hypothesis is offered that relative brightness judgments are based upon experience with the way the amount of light reflected by objects changes with their distance from the light source.The experimental results support this hypothesis. One group of 40 subjects judged half brightness, and another 40 estimated the change in luminance corresponding to moving a hidden point light source to twice the distance from an illuminated standard field. Judgments of the two groups were equivalent.Under stimulus conditions designed to represent the common visual situation (stimuli subtending wide visual angles, adaptation approximating stimulus levels), one quarter the standard luminance was correctly chosen for the effect of doubling distance from the source, and the same fraction was chosen for half brightness for all standard intensities (0.00086 to 87 millilamberts).Under less familiar conditions similar to those employed for the bril scale (small stimuli with black backgrounds, indeterminate levels of adaptation) half brightness judgments were again equivalent to estimates of the effect of doubling distance from object to light source. These estimates were less than one-quarter standard luminance.The hypothesis is discussed in terms of sensory scaling in general, and the neutral value and bril scales in particular.

HELMHOLTZ ON PERCEPTION: ITS PHYSIOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT.

Marco Mumenthaler, Director der Neurologischen Universitatsklinik Inselspital, Bern. Price,

A comparison of speech perception in childhood, maturity, and old age by means of the verbal transformation effect

2.45 (DM 9,80). Pp 383. Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart, Germany. A veritable flood of neurology texts continues to appear and one has difficulty in distinguishing one from another. This soft covered book on neurology by Dr. Mumenthaler is, however, a welcome exception to the usual dreary lot. It is easily carried in a pocket and so can be consulted when needed. The first part has a most excellent review of clinical methods and of the localizing value of abnormal neurological signs. Superb diagrams, tables, and line drawings of common neurological abnormalities encountered at the bedside make this section unique among pocket-sized neurology texts. The diagrams of normal and pathological roentgenographic and electromyographic findings, and of other special tests, are far superior to the often encountered unintelligible photographs. In the second part, neurologic diseases are adequately described, and judiciously selected references are given for those who might want further information, but this should not be necessary for undergraduates. The understanding of neurological disease is again facilitated by drawings and tables, some of which should be of use

Perceptual Reorganization of Repeated Speech Sounds

Marked age differences have been found for the illusory changes called “Verbal Trans-formations” (VTs) which occur while listening to recorded repetitions of clearly pronounced single words: (a) VTs were experienced by all young adults (18–25 yrs) and all children aged 8 and aged 10; (b) VTs were generally not experienced by adults over 60 and children 5 years old; (c) appearance of VTs at about age 6 resembles an all-or-none phenomenon, i.e. the rate for VTs approximates that of older children and young adults; (d) the smallest organizational groupings seem to be meaningful words for the aged, English phoneme sequences for young adults, and individual phonemes for children. It is suggested that VTs reflect skilled reorganizational mechanisms employed during connected discourse as an aid to comprehension.

Auditory illusions and confusions.

Illusory changes called “verbal transformations” (VTs) may occur with continued listening to reiterations of a single word. It has been found that: (1) VTs are absent at the age of 5, and occur for virtually all children 8 years old. Susceptibility to VTs is maintained through childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood; it seems to decrease somewhat by the age of 35, and it is generally absent for those over 60. (2) The appearance of VTs in children at the age of 6 or 7 approximates an all‐or‐none phenomenon—that is, their rate of illusory changes is about the same as that of older children and young adults. (3) The phonetic differences between successive perceptual forms is greatest for young children and decreases regularly with age, (4) The units of perceptual organization seem to be real words for the aged (they seldom report nonsense words), phoneme clusters for young adults (they frequently report nonsense words, but never groupings of speech sounds not found in English), and individual phoneme...