Semantic Satiation Effect in Young and Older Adults

Pilotti, Maura; Khurshid, Ayesha

doi:10.2466/pms.98.3.999-1016

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Massed repetition of a single word, for example, impairs subsequent judgment of whether words fit the same semantic category (Smith, 1984;Smith & Klein, 1990;Pilotti, Antrobus, & Duff, 1997;Pilotti & Khurshid, 2004), decreases N400 effects (Kounios, Kotz, & Holcomb, 2000), and inhibits subsequent recall from memory (Kuhl & Anderson, 2011). Moreover, massed repetition of a single word or phrase can also lead to verbal transformations, as the word eventually turns into a variety of semantically and phonologically related words and nonwords (Warren & Gregory, 1958;Warren, 1961;Warren, 1968;Goldstein & Lackner, 1973;Kaminska & Mayer, 2002;Bashford, Warren, & Lenz, 2006;Bashford, Warren, & Lenz, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This account is rendered plausible by several experimental paradigms which have demonstrated effects of verbal satiation on speech perception. Massed repetition of a single word, for example, impairs subsequent judgment of whether words fit the same semantic category (Pilotti, Antrobus, & Duff, 1997; Pilotti & Khurshid, 2004; Smith, 1984; Smith & Klein, 1990), decreases N400 effects (Kounios, Kotz, & Holcomb, 2000), and inhibits subsequent recall from memory (Kuhl & Anderson, 2011). Moreover, massed repetition of a single word or phrase can also lead to verbal transformations, as the word eventually turns into a variety of semantically and phonologically related words and nonwords (Bashford, Warren, & Lenz, 2006; Bashford, Warren, & Lenz, 2008; Goldstein & Lackner, 1973; Kaminska & Mayer, 2002; Warren, 1961; Warren, 1968; Warren & Gregory, 1958).…”

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Acoustic foundations of the speech-to-song illusion.

Tierney

Patel

Breen

2018

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

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In the "speech-to-song illusion", certain spoken phrases are heard as highly song-like when isolated from context and repeated. This phenomenon occurs to a greater degree for some stimuli than for others, suggesting that particular cues prompt listeners to perceive a spoken phrase as song. Here we investigated the nature of these cues across four experiments. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to rate how song-like spoken phrases were after each of eight repetitions. Initial ratings were correlated with the consistency of an underlying beat and within-syllable pitch slope, while rating change was linked to beat consistency, within-syllable pitch slope, and melodic structure. In Experiment 2, the within-syllable pitch slope of the stimuli was manipulated, and this manipulation changed the extent to which participants heard certain stimuli as more musical than others. In Experiment 3, the extent to which the pitch sequences of a phrase fit a computational model of melodic structure was altered, but this manipulation did not have a significant effect on musicality ratings. In Experiment 4, the consistency of inter-syllable timing was manipulated, but this manipulation did not have an effect on the change in perceived musicality after repetition. Our methods provide a new way of studying the causal role of specific acoustic features in the speech-tosong illusion via subtle acoustic manipulations of speech, and show that listeners can rapidly (and implicitly) assess the degree to which non-musical stimuli contain musical structure.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Acoustic foundations of the speech-to-song illusion.

Tierney

Patel

Breen

2018

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

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“…In the verbal domain, repetition of vowel sequences leads to the perception of two voice streams uttering illusory syllables (Warren, 2008; Warren, Bashford, & Gardner, 1990; Warren, Healy, & Chalikia, 1996). If a word is repeated for longer than one minute, priming is inhibited, and listeners lose the sense of the meaning of the word as a result of semantic satiation (e.g., Cattaneo, Devlin, Vecchi, & Silvanto, 2009; Kounios, Kotz, & Holcomb, 2000; Pilotti & Khurshid, 2004; Smith, 1984). Additionally, verbal transformations may occur and listeners start to hear words that are actually not present in the acoustic signal (e.g., face, space, paste instead of pace , MacKay, Wulf, Yin, & Abrams, 1993; Warren, 1961, 1968; Warren & Gregory, 1958; for nonverbal stimuli, see Kaminska & Mayer, 2002).…”

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confidence: 99%

When speech sounds like music.

Falk¹,

Rathcke²,

Bella³

2014

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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Repetition can boost memory and perception. However, repeating the same stimulus several times in immediate succession also induces intriguing perceptual transformations and illusions. Here, we investigate the Speech to Song Transformation (S2ST), a massed repetition effect in the auditory modality, which crosses the boundaries between language and music. In the S2ST, a phrase repeated several times shifts to being heard as sung. To better understand this unique cross-domain transformation, we examined the perceptual determinants of the S2ST, in particular the role of acoustics. In 2 Experiments, the effects of 2 pitch properties and 3 rhythmic properties on the probability and speed of occurrence of the transformation were examined. Results showed that both pitch and rhythmic properties are key features fostering the transformation. However, some properties proved to be more conducive to the S2ST than others. Stable tonal targets that allowed for the perception of a musical melody led more often and quickly to the S2ST than scalar intervals. Recurring durational contrasts arising from segmental grouping favoring a metrical interpretation of the stimulus also facilitated the S2ST. This was, however, not the case for a regular beat structure within and across repetitions. In addition, individual perceptual abilities allowed to predict the likelihood of the S2ST. Overall, the study demonstrated that repetition enables listeners to reinterpret specific prosodic features of spoken utterances in terms of musical structures. The findings underline a tight link between language and music, but they also reveal important differences in communicative functions of prosodic structure in the 2 domains.

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“…Turning to the effects of age, we did not find any differences between younger and older participants in illusion strength, and only a very small difference in response bias. Prior research has suggested that lexical node satiation decreases with age, as can be seen in decreased verbal transformation effects in older participants (Warren & Warren, 1966;Pilotti & Khurshid, 2004;Pilotti et al, 2011). This result suggests that individual differences in the readiness with which lexical nodes satiate is not a primary factor driving differences in perception of the song illusion in these stimuli.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…A similar explanation has also been advanced for the verbal transformation effect, in which repetition of a word eventually leads to an unstable percept that swaps between different words with different meanings (Warren & Gregory, 1958): MacKay et al (1993) suggested that this illusion occurs when lexical nodes are satiated but phonological nodes remain activated. The verbal transformation effect is weaker in older participants (Warren & Warren, 1966;Pilotti & Khurshid, 2004;Pilotti, Simcox, Baldy, & Schauss, 2011), suggesting that satiation of lexical nodes due to repetition may be less rapid or less robust in older age. If so, then older participants may demonstrate less robust perception of the speech-tosong illusion as well.…”

Section: Introduction: Investigating Demographic Characteristics Driving Perception Of the Song Illusionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Individual Differences in Perception of the Speech-to-Song Illusion are Linked to Musical Aptitude but not Musical Experience

Tierney¹,

Patel²,

Jasmin³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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In the speech-to-song illusion certain spoken phrases are perceived as sung after repetition. Prior work has established that perception of the illusion is not limited to specialist listeners, such as individuals with musical training, but is perceived widely across the general population. However, little is known about whether there are stable individual differences in perception of the illusion, and if so, what factors underlie this variability. Here we assessed the strength of the song illusion across individuals using phrases that tend to be perceived as song when repeated, as well as phrases that continue to be perceived as speech when repeated, measuring the strength of the illusion as the rating difference between these two stimulus categories after repetition. Illusion strength varied widely, with differences in perception of the two categories ranging from 0% to 80% of the rating scale. Although variability in illusion strength was unrelated to degree of musical training, participants who perceived the illusion more strongly were proficient in several musical skills, including beat perception, tonality perception, and selective attention to pitch. This finding supports theoretical models of the speech-to-song illusion in which experience of the illusion is based on detection of musical characteristics latent in spoken phrases.

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Semantic Satiation Effect in Young and Older Adults

Cited by 7 publications

References 28 publications

Acoustic foundations of the speech-to-song illusion.

Acoustic foundations of the speech-to-song illusion.

When speech sounds like music.

Individual Differences in Perception of the Speech-to-Song Illusion are Linked to Musical Aptitude but not Musical Experience

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