Categorical perception: important phenomenon or lasting myth?

There have been controversial debates across multiple disciplines regarding the underlying mechanism of developmental stuttering. Stuttering is often related to issues in the speech production system; however, the presence and extent of a speech perception deficit is less clear. This study aimed to investigate the speech perception of children who stutter (CWS) using the categorical perception paradigm to examine their ability to categorize different acoustic variations of speech sounds into the same or different phonemic categories. In this study, 15 CWS and 16 children who do not stutter (CWNS) completed identification and discrimination tasks involving acoustic variations of Cantonese speech sounds in three stimulus contexts: consonants (voice onset times, VOTs), lexical tones, and vowels. The results showed similar categorical perception performance in boundary position and width in the identification task and similar d' scores in the discrimination task between the CWS and CWNS groups. However, the reaction times (RTs) were slower in the CWS group compared with the CWNS group in both tasks. Moreover, the CWS group had slower RTs in identifying stimuli located across categorical boundaries compared with stimuli located away from categorical boundaries. Overall, the data implied that the phoneme representation evaluated in speech perception might be intact in CWS as revealed by similar patterns in categorical perception as those in CWNS. However, the CWS group had slower processing speeds during categorical perception, which may indicate an insufficiency in accessing the phonemic representations in a timely manner, especially when the acoustic stimuli were ambiguous.

Exploration of a new integrative intellectual enterprise: the cognitive social sciences. Research in the cognitive sciences has advanced significantly in recent decades. Computational cognitive modeling has profoundly changed the ways in which we understand cognition. Empirical research has progressed as well, offering new insights into many psychological phenomena. This book investigates the possibility of exploiting the successes of the cognitive sciences to establish a better foundation for the social sciences, including the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, economics, and political science. The result may be a new, powerful, integrative intellectual enterprise: the cognitive social sciences. The book treats a range of topics selected to capture issues that arise across the social sciences, covering computational, empirical, and theoretical approaches. The chapters, by leading scholars in both the cognitive and the social sciences, explore the relationship between cognition and society, including such issues as methodologies of studying cultural differences; the psychological basis of politics (for instance, the role of emotion and the psychology of moral choices); cognitive dimensions of religion; cognitive approaches to economics; meta-theoretical questions on the possibility of the unification of social and cognitive sciences. Combining depth and breadth, the book encourages fruitful interdisciplinary interaction across many fields.

KATHERINE D. ARBUTHNOTT, DENNIS W. ARBUTHNOTT and VALERIE A. THOMPSON The Mind in Therapy: Cognitive Science for Practice Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2006, 432 pages (ISBN 0-8058-5675-7, US$49.95 Paperback) Reviewed by DAVIDJ. A. DOZOIS Cognitive science has undoubtedly contributed importantly to our understanding of adaptive and maladaptive human functioning and will increasingly continue to do so. Basic cognitive science offers a tremendous wealth of knowledge about various processes and mechanisms that are fundamental to a client's functioning, a therapist's efficacy, and the client-therapist interaction. Among other forms of psychological interventions, cognitive therapy has explicitly adopted constructs and adapted methodologies from cognitive science and has evolved conceptually and clinically as a result of this empirical work (cf. Clark & Fairburn, 1997). As McFaIl and Townsend (1998) cogently argued, however, most clinical psychologists focus on idiographic solutions to a client's problems and pay less attention to the nomothetic solutions that pertain to a broader range of issues: It is as if the two worlds of psychology not only moved in independent orbits, but also occupied different corners of the universe. Many clinical psychologists seem unaware of and unaffected by developments and discoveries in the nomothetic world, even when these potentially could help them understand, assess, treat, predict, and prevent psychopathology and other suffering (p. 325). Clinical science and practice, they contend, would benefit from greater integration with cognitive science. In The Mind in Therapy: Cognitive Science for Practice, Arbuthnott, Arbuthnott, and Thompson attempt to bridge this gap by grounding in basic cognitive science. They do not intend to do so in the way that empirically based treatment does (i.e., by demonstrating what works for which particular psychiatric difficulties or by examining what are the effective ingredients of therapy) ; rather, their text applies the conceptual underpinnings of cognitive science, and its empirical findings, to particular practical issues. This book is thus timely, innovative, and interesting. In 16 chapters, the authors review different areas of cognitive research and emphasize findings relevant to the theoretical and applied aspects of psychotherapy. An overarching objective of the book is to better inform practitioners about some of the key cognitive variables that impact clients, therapists, and the therapy process. Each chapter begins with general definitions of key terms and explains how various cognitive constructs, and the research literature surrounding them, are important to psychotherapy. Many chapters also include case illustrations to translate these concepts into application. In Chapter 1, the authors make the case that cognitive processes are essential to all forms of in that they provide the pathways for treatment change or set up constraints to psychotherapeutic intervention. In the second chapter, Arbuthnott and her co-authors contextualize the processes and methods of within the framework of problem-solving. They review the literature on what facilitates effective problem-solving and how to overcome deficits and impasses. Chapter 3 provides a good review of memory retrieval and priming. The issue of how past memories are activated is described, vis-a-vis an associated network, and recommendations are made for how therapists might elicit and reframe a client's autobiographical memories in the most effective manner possible. The literature pertaining to autobiographical memory, the lifeblood of psychotherapy (p. 55) is further elaborated upon in Chapters 4 and 5. Common errors in autobiographical memory (e.g., overconfidence, schematic knowledge errors) are also described and the implications for therapists highlighted. In Chapter 6, prospective memory is discussed in the context of between-session extratherapy tasks. …

Many previous studies researched the influence of external cues on speech perception, yet little is known pertaining to the role of intrinsic cues in categorical perception of Mandarin vowels and tones by children with cochlear implants (CI). This study investigated the effects of intrinsic acoustic cues on categorical perception in children with CIs, compared to normal-hearing (NH) children. Categorical perception experiment paradigm was applied to evaluate their identification and discrimination abilities in perceiving /i/-/u/ with static intrinsic formants and Tone 1 (T1)-Tone 2 (T2) with dynamic intrinsic fundamental frequency (F0) contours. Results for the NH group showed that vowel continuum of /i/-/u/ was less categorically perceived than T1-T2 continuum with significantly wider boundary width and less alignment between the discrimination peak and the boundary position. However, a different categorical perception pattern was depicted for the CI group. Specifically, the CI group exhibited less categoricalness in both /i/-/u/ and T1-T2. It suggested that the effects of intrinsic acoustic cues on categorical perception was proved for the normal-hearing children, while not for the hearing-impaired children with cochlear implants. In conclusion, acoustically dynamic cues can facilitate categorical perception of speech in NH children, whereas this effect will be inhibited by difficulties in processing spectral F0 information as in the CI users.

Restoration strategies for native oyster populations rely on multiple sources of information, which often conflict due to time- and space-varying patterns in abundance and distribution. For instance, strategies based on population connectivity and disease resistance can differ, and extant and historical records of abundance and distribution are often at odds, such that the optimal strategy is unclear and valuable restoration sites may be excluded from consideration. This was the case for the Lynnhaven River subestuary of lower Chesapeake Bay, which was deemed unsuitable for Eastern Oyster restoration based on physical conditions, disease challenge, and extant oyster abundance. Consequently, we (i) evaluated previously unknown historical data from the 1800s, (ii) quantified extant oyster recruitment and abundance, physical conditions, and disease presence on constructed restoration reefs and alternative substrates, and (iii) assessed simulations from biophysical models to identify potential restoration sites in the metapopulation. The collective data distinguished numerous restoration sites (i) in the polyhaline zone (salinity 18.4-22.2) where disease resistance is evolving, (ii) where oysters were abundant in the late 1800s-early 1900s, (iii) of recent high recruitment, abundance and survival, despite consistent and elevated disease challenge, and (iv) interconnected as a metapopulation via larval dispersal. Moreover, a network of constructed restoration reefs met size structure, abundance and biomass standards of restoration success. These findings demonstrate that assumptions about the suitability of sites for oyster restoration based on individual processes can be severely flawed, and that in-depth examination of multiple processes and sources of information are required for oyster reef restoration plans to maximize success. We use these findings and previous information to recommend a strategy for successful restoration of subtidal oyster reefs throughout the range of the Eastern Oyster.

Auditory processing and speech perception in children with specific language impairment: Relations with oral language and literacy skills

Contemporary challenges, stemming from accelerated digitalization and the increasing complexity of political processes, are driving the integration of interdisciplinary approaches into political science. For the first time in history, advances in neuroscience and digital technologies make it possible to probe the depths of human consciousness, enabling the analysis and prediction of behavior that circumvents an individual’s conscious will. This capability presents a fundamental challenge to the Enlightenment principle of individual sovereignty, demanding both philosophical reflection and empirical research into its profound opportunities and risks. The authors address this challenge by examining the cognitive dimensions of political decision-making, leadership, and mass belief formation. Particular attention is paid to the impact of digitalization on the transformation of political behavior and governance strategies. Drawing on findings from neurophysiology and cognitive science, the authors examine the key mechanisms that determine decision-making in the political sphere, including the influence of emotional and cognitive factors. It is argued that the integration of neuroscience and digital technologies is transforming traditional approaches to the analysis of political reality. Furthermore, the synergy between cognitive science, sociology, and political science opens new avenues for researching human potential, a critical task of particular relevance in an era of global uncertainty and digital transformation. The proposed approaches not only deepen the understanding of the cognitive and emotional mechanisms of political behavior but also facilitate the development of new tools for forecasting and governance in the contemporary political environment. The article highlights the dual nature of using the tools of political cognitive science: on the one hand, it offers unprecedented opportunities for understanding political processes; on the other, it creates risks of conscious manipulation and the erosion of human agency. The authors conclude that the development of robust ethical principles for the use of neurotechnology in politics is imperative. Such principles must be designed to enhance human potential and safeguard the role of individuals as the subjects of political development, preventing their reduction to manageable data resources.

In the big data era, data are usually described by multiple information sources in many practical application fields, and it is infeasible way to mine interesting knowledge from a centralized huge source directly after aggregating all information sources, due to the problems of massive data, privacy concerns, and potential transmission cost. To mine decision rules from multiple information sources, therefore, we can mine local decision rules at different local information sources, and then put these rules to form a set of global decision rules. In this paper, we first present a formal representation of decision rule, which depends on the neighborhood granulation of each sample from the viewpoint of granular computing. Then, we obtain the weight of each local information source based on the consensus measure principle between local information sources. Finally, a weighting model for mining global decision rules via synthesizing all local decision rules is proposed. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that the proposed decision rules synthesization model is effective and scalable.

Enhanced discrimination between speech sounds across phoneme boundaries relative to discrimination within phoneme categories based on identification defines categorical perception. The present experiment compared man and Old World monkey on speech sound discrimination and particularly on the ability to perceive categorically. Difference thresholds for three humans and four monkeys were determined on a synthetic speech sound continuum from “BA” to “DA.” Humans were instructed and monkeys conditioned with food reinforcement to indicate a stimulus change from a repetitive “BA” in a direction towards the other phoneme “DA,” or, from “DA” towards “BA.” In addition to percent correct discrimination data, reaction times to stimulus change were recorded. Thresholds, defined as 50% correct discrimination between speech sounds, were typically smaller for humans than for monkeys and tended to occur intraphonemically for humans, but at phoneme boundaries for monkeys. Human reaction times, however, were longer near threshold than were those for monkeys, presumably due to increased time required for discriminating within a phoneme category. In this experiment, therefore, the reaction time data provided better evidence for categorical perception in humans than did percent correct discrimination data. [Research supported by grants from NIH and University of Michigan.]

The nature of the mechanism responsible for the categorical labeling of stimuli is not clear. One hypothesis suggests that categorization is limited by the 'natural sensitivities' of the auditory system. The alternative hypothesis suggests that categorization is mediated by a special speech mode and is influenced by how speech is produced. The present study attempts to provide some insight into this dilemma by evaluating categorical perception (CP) in speech and non-speech stimuli and across languages. Specifically, the goals of the present study were (1) to compare phonetic boundaries of Hebrew voicing to categorical boundaries (CB) of a two-tone complex which varies in the relative timing of the two tones (TOT) [TOT stimuli are considered be the non-speech analog to voice-onset time (VOT)], and (2) to re-establish the CB values of non-speech analog to voicing in American-English speakers using the same TOT continua as the Hebrew speakers and to compare them to CB of Hebrew-speaking subjects. Our assumption was that if CP is mediated by basic auditory sensitivity then we expect similar CB for speech and non-speech stimuli and no effect of language on CB. If, however, a special speech code determines CP, then phonetic boundaries are expected to be different from CB of non-speech stimuli and across languages. Of particular interest is the special case of Hebrew whose voice-voiceless distinction in production is very different from that in English. Twelve Hebrew-speaking adults and 12 American-English speaking adults participated in this study. Stimuli consisted of (a) a two-tone complex continuum that varied in the relative onset time of the lower tone from a lead of -100 ms to a lag of +50 ms in 10 ms steps, and (b) a /ba-pa/ continuum which varied in VOT values similar to (a). Subjects identified TOT stimuli as belonging to one of three categories: leading, simultaneous, or lagging. VOT stimuli were labeled as /ba/ or /pa/. Results show (a) different phonetic boundary for Hebrew voicing compared to published data on English voicing, (b) different category boundaries for speech and non-speech stimuli in Hebrew, (c) a phonetic boundary for Hebrew voicing that does not align with the VOT values of production, and (d) very similar CB for TOT stimuli in Hebrew- and American-English-speaking subjects. The data support the influence of both general auditory abilities and unique speech processes on categorical perception of speech.

A role for the right superior temporal sulcus in categorical perception of musical chords

Preschool children's evaluation and integration of visual and auditory information in speech perception was compared with that of adults. Subjects identified speech events, which consisted of synthetic speech syllables ranging from /ba/ to /da/ combined with a videotaped /ba/, /da/, or no articulation. Both variables influenced the identification judgments for both groups of subjects. The results were used to test current views of the development of perceptual categorization and speech perception. Tests of quantitative models indicated that both preschool children and adults had available continuous and independent sources of information. The results were well described by a fuzzy logical model of perception, which assumes that the perceiver integrates continuous and independent sources of information and determines the relative goodness of match to prototype definitions in memory. The only developmental difference was less of an influence of the visual source of information for children relative to adults. 1 explanation is that the children simply attended less to the visual source. A second experiment eliminated the attentional explanation by showing identical results when the children were also required to indicate whether or not the speaker's mouth was moving.

While the perilinguistic child is endowed with predispositions for the categorical perception of phonetic features, their adaptation to the native language results from a long evolution from the end of the first year of age up to the adolescence. This evolution entails both a better discrimination between phonological categories, a concomitant reduction of the discrimination between within-category variants, and a higher precision of perceptual boundaries between categories. The first objective of the present study was to assess the relative importance of these modifications by comparing the perceptual performances of a group of 11 children, aged from 8 to 11 years, with those of their mothers. Our second objective was to explore the functional implications of categorical perception by comparing the performances of a group of 8 deaf children, equipped with a cochlear implant, with normal-hearing chronological age controls. The results showed that the categorical boundary was slightly more precise and that categorical perception was consistently larger in adults vs. normal-hearing children. Those among the deaf children who were able to discriminate minimal distinctions between syllables displayed categorical perception performances equivalent to those of normal-hearing controls. In conclusion, the late effect of age on the categorical perception of speech seems to be anchored in a fairly mature phonological system, as evidenced the fairly high precision of categorical boundaries in pre-adolescents. These late developments have functional implications for speech perception in difficult conditions as suggested by the relationship between categorical perception and speech intelligibility in cochlear implant children.

This lively, compact textbook introduces readers to semantics - the study of how we construct meaning in communication. Easy to follow, and with a clear structure, it explains formal terminology in a simple and understandable way, without using formal notation or logic, and draws on dozens of examples from up-to-date empirical research findings. Offering a tight integration of classic semantic issues with cognitive science, Javier Valenzuela provides a complete and coherent overview of the main topics in this area, including a review of the empirical methods used in semantic theorizing, and discussions of both non-traditional and new topics, such as how meaning is acquired by children and how meaning is constructed cross-linguistically. Featuring illustrations, exercises, activities, suggestions for further reading, highlighted key terms, and a comprehensive glossary, this book is accessible to beginners and undergraduates, including those from non-linguistic backgrounds with no prior knowledge of linguistic analysis. It will be an essential resource for courses in English language, English studies, linguistics and the cognitive sciences.

Teaching and Learning Guide for: Pragmatics: From Theory to Experiment and Back Again