Perceptual asymmetries associated with changing-loudness aftereffects

Abstract

Listening to decreasing sound level leads to an increasing-loudness aftereffect, whereas listening to increasing sound level leads to a decreasing-loudness aftereffect. Measuring the aftereffects by nulling them in short test stimuli reveals that increasing-loudness aftereffects are greater than decreasingloudness aftereffects. However, this perceptual asymmetry may be due to another illusion-the growing-louder effect: In the absence of any adaptation, short steady stimuli are heard as growing louder. In an experiment in which the duration of test stimuli varied from 1.0 to 2.5 sec, the growinglouder effect did not occur in the longer test stimuli, but the asymmetry in changing-loudness aftereffects remained. The aftereffect asymmetry is therefore independent of the growing-louder effect. The aftereffect asymmetry is consistent with other psychophysical and physiological evidence that is believed to concern potential collision: An approaching sound-source elicits increasing sound level. In addition, the aftereffect asymmetry parallels a well-known asymmetry regarding aftereffects of visual motion, which is also attributed to potential collision.

Manual Gestures Modulate Early Neural Responses in Loudness Perception

“…These surprising but consistent asymmetric results could root in the inherent properties of auditory perception. Asymmetry of loudness perception and neural responses has been reported in various auditory tasks, such as auditory habituation ( Butler, 1968 ), loudness recalibration ( Marks, 1994 ; Mapes-Riordan and Yost, 1999 ), loudness adaptation ( Canévet et al, 1985 ), and changing-loudness after effect ( Reinhardt-Rutland, 2004 ). Interestingly, the changing-loudness after effect can also be induced if participants adapted to visual changing-depth, e.g., a box expanding or shrinking ( Kitagawa and Ichihara, 2002 ).…”

Quadri-stability of a spatially ambiguous auditory illusion

“…In the visual world, objects approaching and receding from the observer can create ambiguous motion or be used to form ambiguous percepts of the object (approaching vs. receding ambiguity, Lewis and McBeath, 2004 ; the looming effect, Schiff et al, 1962 ; Neuhoff, 2001 ; hybrid images, Brady and Oliva, 2012 ). A similar phenomenon occurs in the auditory domain: changes in volume level can be interpreted as changes in an object’s distance, causing a sound to be interpreted as drawing nearer or farther away from the observer (the Growing-Louder Effect, Rosenblum et al, 1987 ; Middlebrooks and Green, 1991 ; Reinhardt-Rutland and Ehrenstein, 1996 ), which has been the basis for a number of perceptual illusions that affect localization (Small, 1977 ; Reinhardt-Rutland, 1996 , 2004 ; Reinhardt-Rutland and Ehrenstein, 1996 ; Malinina and Andreeva, 2013 ). Coupled with the mechanism of the front-back confusion, a change in volume may influence people’s percepts of the trajectory of an imaginary object moving through space.…”

Book Review: Qualitative Research Methods in Mental Health and Psychotherapy: A Guide for Students and Practitioners, Ethnography in Social Science Practice, Basic Statistics for Psychologists, Biological Psychology (3rd Ed.), Educational Psychology: Concepts, Research and Challenges, Essentials of Sensation and Perception, Key Research and Study Skills in Psychology, Research Methods in Psychology: Investigating Human Behavior, Well-Being: Productivity and Happiness at Work

“…Analogous considerations affect Bayesian frameworks, as Mather readily admits. On the other hand, Marr's (1982) teachings have been enduring because they promote computational models of human perceptual competences; however, a computational model need not necessarily reflect how humans actually function.…”