Psychophysical Relations Research Articles

О ритмической природе музыкального жеста: к постановке проблемы

The predominance of rhythm as an organizing and forming factor in the musical art of the twentieth century is obvious. Perhaps this was due to the desire of modern man to reflect in an effective motor and emotionally music swiftness of human society. New rhythmic conception of the musical art of the twentieth century composers demanded that the search for new ways of impacting the audience, a new musical language, new means of expression. We can say that expressive musical gesture (a gesture, through the musical embodiment), various forms of movement that can cause the most immediate reaction of the listener, are one of the methods to ensure adequate perception and understanding of contemporary music the listening audience. In a number of musical styles, from the second half of the twentieth century, the use of musical gesture is the best way to disclose the essence of the artistic design. Beyond the musical gesture concept is difficult to define the specifics of the works of such composers as Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio, Brian Ferneyhough, Helmut Lachenmann, Morton Feldman and others. Nevertheless, the theory of musical gesture is still in its infancy. The concept of musical gesture is interpreted very flexible. At the same time I would like to note that attempting to define what is a musical gesture and what is its role in music, you need to pay attention to the following aspects: 1 ) the musical gesture a phenomenon which manifests itself at the level of design and compositional embodiment of a musical work; 2) musical gesture manifests itself on the level of performance, as it is performing the gesture is energy, generating in some cases form; 3 ) musical gesture manifests itself at the level of perception, as the listening emotion, according to some modern scholars, such as Vincent Milberg, Ralph Phifer, Jose Vongard should be realized as a gesture that can pass the value of a musical fabric element works. The close interaction of music and movement at the level of deep psychophysical relations proved by modern science. This allows you to freely transfer one art form to another: the music in choreography and dance, a certain type of movement, gesture in the musical embodiment. Moreover, according to some composers, certain forms of movement can become an impetus for the development of creative ideas to deduce the form, fill expressive gestures, figures (B. Ferneyhough ). These ideas are addressed to the problem of interaction between music and movement are relevant and very promising in the light of modern musicology, music psychology, music theory, the theory of playing, etc. This proves the necessity of a deep scientific study of the problem and its attendant ideas related to musical gesture, gestural music, musical composition born of pulses of different types of movement and gesture.

Psychophysical Relations between Interacted Fabric Thermal‐Tactile Properties and Psychological Touch Perceptions

AbstractTouch sensation perception includes three processes – physical, neurophysiological and psychological. Psychophysical relationships that bridge physical and psychological results have varied. Meanwhile, interactive effects of thermal‐tactile physical features have seldom been investigated. Therefore, this study aims to compare various hypothesized psychophysical relations, including monomode relations between single stimuli and single sensations, as well as multimode relations between multistimuli and sensory dimensions. Potential simultaneous effects from thermal‐tactile factors and their interactions are also explored. This study uses physical data, obtained from a simultaneous measurement instrument Fabric Touch Tester, and psychological data collected from over 200 subjects. The results imply that a universal psychophysical function relation can hardly be achieved. Different neural stimulation mechanisms seem to be better presented by dissimilar function relations. It is also found that thermal and tactile physical information can simultaneously affect all defined sensory dimensions – including smoothness, softness and warmth. Interaction effects from multistimuli are also concluded to be important predictors.Practical ApplicationsStudy of the relationship between psychological touch sensations and fabric physical properties has always been an attractive field in textile sensory research. Along with the increased demands on the touch comfort of clothing, precise quantitative characterization methods are eagerly needed in industry. A number of approaches have been proposed during past studies, including psychophysical laws and stepwise‐box‐linear regression. However, these resolutions focused on tactile properties and mechanical sensations only. Although the latest neurophysiological findings have enlarged the scope of thermal‐tactile properties, there is still a lack of investigation into interactive effects of both thermal and tactile properties. This work provides comparison studies on different types of psychophysical relations and particularly explores the interactive effects of multiple physical aspects. Proposed psychophysical relations are concluded with satisfied correlation coefficients to the subjective sensations. Such interactive multimode psychophysical relations could be used to advance current prediction models with stronger connections to neurophysiological perception mechanisms.

The Ising Decision Maker: a binary stochastic network for choice response time.

The Ising Decision Maker (IDM) is a new formal model for speeded two-choice decision making derived from the stochastic Hopfield network or dynamic Ising model. On a microscopic level, it consists of 2 pools of binary stochastic neurons with pairwise interactions. Inside each pool, neurons excite each other, whereas between pools, neurons inhibit each other. The perceptual input is represented by an external excitatory field. Using methods from statistical mechanics, the high-dimensional network of neurons (microscopic level) is reduced to a two-dimensional stochastic process, describing the evolution of the mean neural activity per pool (macroscopic level). The IDM can be seen as an abstract, analytically tractable multiple attractor network model of information accumulation. In this article, the properties of the IDM are studied, the relations to existing models are discussed, and it is shown that the most important basic aspects of two-choice response time data can be reproduced. In addition, the IDM is shown to predict a variety of observed psychophysical relations such as Piéron's law, the van der Molen-Keuss effect, and Weber's law. Using Bayesian methods, the model is fitted to both simulated and real data, and its performance is compared to the Ratcliff diffusion model.

Investigation of Large Display Color Image Appearance I: Important Factors Affecting Perceived Quality

A large-scale psychophysical experiment was performed to establish the important image appearance attributes controlling the perceived quality of images presented on a large display under dark surround conditions. Six image appearance attributes were chosen: Colorfulness, contrast, naturalness, visual information, sharpness, and image quality. A nine-point qualitative category scale was used to rate these six attributes for eight test images, each of which had 22 derivative images which varied in lightness, chroma, and sharpness. The influences of the three image manipulations on the six attributes, and the psychophysical relations between image quality and its constituent attributes were investigated. Multiple regression and factor analysis were conducted to derive an empirical image quality model. It was found that there were high correlations among the five attributes forming image quality: Between sharpness and contrast, and between naturalness and visual information. Furthermore, colorfulness, contrast, and naturalness were key attributes to have a significant impact on image quality.

MENTAL CAUSATION FROM THE TOP-DOWN

Dual-attribute theories are alleged to face a problem with mental causation which commits them to either epiphenomenalism or overdetermination – neither of which is attractive. The problem, however, is predicated on assumptions about psychophysical relations that dual-attribute theorists are not obliged to accept. I explore one way they can solve the problem by rejecting those assumptions.

Czym jest i jak istnieje umysł

The goal of the article is to show that a complete answer to the title question can be given only in the context of the natural sciences. We believe that the group of cognitive sciences are the most reliable source of information about cognitive mental processes is. Making use of their achievements we present a series of criteria for possessing a mind. We distinguish between many kinds of minds (in particular personal minds). We attempt to outline the conditions that must be fulfilled by an adequate model of the mind. In our opinion such a model must make use of all available empirical data and of scientific theories constructed on the basis of such data. From the point of view of philosophy the requirements placed upon such theories by ontology are especially important. Their reconstruction can be a prolegomena to a future integrated ontology of the mind. We emphasize that the mind is not an independent thing (a substance). In speaking about the mind we have in mind states, events, processes, functions, and dispositions that are derivative (genetically, evolutionarily, and developmentally) with respect to processes of a lower order. We assume that an adequate model of the mind is multi-dimensional, taking into account several mutually interacting levels of organization (physico-chemical, neurobiological, calculational, representational, environmentally adaptational, and conscious). We interpret the psychophysical problem as one of the relation between levels of organization, a relation that is constitutive for the actualization of mental states. Psychophysical relations turn out to be a particular case of the broader issue of relations between levels. In carrying out a preliminary conceptualization we make use of the notion of emergence; this is why our position, which is mainly in opposition to substantial dualism, may be termed emergent monism or naturalism.

The psychomechanics of simulated sound sources: material properties of impacted bars.

Sound can convey information about the materials composing an object that are often not directly available to the visual system. Material and geometric properties of synthesized impacted bars with a tube resonator were varied, their perceptual structure was inferred from multidimensional scaling of dissimilarity judgments, and the psychophysical relations between the two were quantified. Constant cross-section bars varying in mass density and viscoelastic damping coefficient were synthesized with a physical model in experiment 1. A two-dimensional perceptual space resulted, and the dimensions were correlated with the mechanical parameters after applying a power-law transformation. Variable cross-section bars varying in length and viscoelastic damping coefficient were synthesized in experiment 2 with two sets of lengths creating high- and low-pitched bars. In the low-pitched bars, there was a coupling between the bar and the resonator that modified the decay characteristics. Perceptual dimensions again corresponded to the mechanical parameters. A set of potential temporal, spectral, and spectrotemporal correlates of the auditory representation were derived from the signal. The dimensions related to mass density and bar length were correlated with the frequency of the lowest partial and are related to pitch perception. The correlate most likely to represent the viscoelastic damping coefficient across all three stimulus sets is a linear combination of a decay constant derived from the temporal envelope and the spectral center of gravity derived from a cochlear representation of the signal. These results attest to the perceptual salience of energy-loss phenomena in sound source behavior.

A Usage Measure Based on Psychophysical Relations

A new word usage measure is proposed. It is based on psychophysical relations and allows to reveal words by their degree of “importance” for making basic educational dictionaries.

More on Global Supervenience

Jaegwon Kim contends that global supervenience is consistent with non-materialistic cases. Paull and Sider, Horgan, as well as Kim, attempt to defend it from these charges. It is shown here that their defense is only partially successful. Their defense meets one challenge to global supervenience-the hydrogen-atom case-but fails to meet other, 'local', cases. It is suggested that the other challenges can be met if global supervenience is combined with weak supervenience. The combination of global and weak supervenience constitutes a viable picture of psychophysical relations, and is especially attractive to nonreductive materialists who are also anti-individualists. Global supervenience is seen as an important version of non-reductive materialism. It is especially attractive to non-reductivists with anti-individualistic inclinations. But there are also worries that global supervenience falls short of establishing important aspects of a materialist picture of the mind. Jaegwon Kim,' for example, argues that there are non-materialist scenarios that are compatible with global supervenience. More recently, Paull and Sider2 and Terence Horgan3 attempt to defend global supervenience from these charges. I argue that their defense is only partially successful. It succeeds in meeting one challenge to global supervenience, but fails to meet others. I then suggest that global supervenience can be salvaged if it is combined with weak supervenience. The combination of global and weak supervenience, I argue, is a serious option for non-reductive materialists who are also antiindividualists.

Neural networks simulating the frequency discrimination of hearing for non-stationary short tone stimuli

This paper addresses the question of frequency discrimination of hearing for non-stationary (short) tone stimuli (duration < or = 125 ms). Shortening of the stimulus duration leads to widening of the frequency spectrum of the tone. It can be shown that for hearing no acoustical uncertainty relation holds and thus some nonlinear elements must be present in hearing physiology. We present neurophysiological and psychoacoustical findings supporting the hypothesis that frequency discrimination of non-stationary short tone stimuli is performed in neural networks of the auditory system. Neural network architectures that could process the temporal and place excitation patterns originating in the cochlea are suggested. We show how these networks (temporal coincidence network processing the temporal code and lateral inhibition network processing the place code) can be combined to show performance consistent with auditory physiology. They might explain the frequency discrimination of hearing for non-stationary short tone stimuli. We show the fitting of psychophysical relations based on these networks with the experimentally determined data.

Anomalism, Uncodifiability, and Psychophysical Relations

Quelles sont les implications de l'anomalisme du mental sur le fait que les proprietes mentales soient determinees par les proprietes physiques? Y-a-t-il tension interne en monisme anormal?

Evaluation of the Critical Value of Driving Fatigue Based on the Fuzzy Sets Theory

Applying the newly developed multistage evaluation method based on the fuzzy sets theory, we have evaluated the sense of driving fatigue of 8 male drivers who covered 400 km in 8 hr in the daytime, empirically revealing the distribution of the degree of driving fatigue. The critical values from "no" to "a bit" and "a bit" to "fatigued" are I and 5.5 hr, respectively. Finally, a tentative study of the psychophysical relations between driving time and driving fatigue has been made, leading to a curve of driving fatigue under the conditions of this experiment.

Loudspeaker frequency response and perceived sound quality

The psychophysical relations between loudspeakers’ frequency response and their perceptual properties were investigated. The frequency response of 18 high-fidelity loudspeakers was measured in three different conditions: in free field, in reverberation room, and in the listening room itself. The perceptual data consisted of experienced listeners’ ratings of the same loudspeakers in seven scales: clarity, fullness, spaciousness, brightness, softness, absence of extraneous sounds, and fidelity (Gabrielsson and Lindström, 1985). Hypotheses concerning the psychophysical relations were stated on the basis of results from earlier listening tests. The relations obtained with measurements in the listening room showed better agreement with the hypotheses than those obtained by measurements in free field or in reverberation room.

Psychophysical functions of the sensation evoked by electrical stimulation of the posterior urethra

AbstractFollowing electrical stimulation of the posterior urethra, visceral afferent nerves are excited that transmit sensory information perceived as an imminent desire to void. In the present study, some basic psychophysical relations involved in the sensations evoked this way were investigated. The results included the following. First, in the temporal integration relation, the relation between the sensory threshold (sT) and the duration of the stimulus (D) followed a power function: sT*DK = m, in which K and m are constants. Second, in 20 healthy subjects, the sensory threshold determined with increasing strength (sTi) and determined with decreasing strength (sTd) were linearly correlated (P≤0.001). The slope of the relations between sTi and sTd decreased with the duration of stimulus. Third, the sTi and sTd were inversely related to the frequency of the stimulus. Fourth, the relation between the mean reaction time (RT) and the stimulus strength (I) followed a significant power function fit after stimulation in the posterior urethra (R = 0.93, P≤0.001): RT = ∂ * I−n, in which ∂ and n are constants. Finally, stimulation of the penile skin either electrically, with vibration or with a cold stimulus, caused a significant increase in the sensory thresholds determined in the posterior urethra. The conclusion of the study was that sensations evoked by electrical stimulation of visceral afferent pathways in the posterior urethra follow psychophysical power functions similar to those of exteroceptive sensory modalities.

An evaluation of psychophysical trading relations and perceptual cues

Trading relations have been the empirical and theoretical focus of a number of research studies over the last decade. This paper provides a careful examination of the concept of a cue, the concept of a trading relation between cues for a given perceptual contrast, and published claims for empirical demonstrations of trading relations. While true trading relations should be expected for most types of perceptual phenomena, it was discovered that many studies claiming to find a trading relation have only demonstrated the effects of a single cue. Furthermore, some aspects of trading relations may be based upon a failure to adequately consider critical underlying assumptions about the nature of the continuum along which the dependent variable is defined. The theoretical implications of trading relations will be discussed. [Research supported in part by a NSF grant to the first author.]

Integration of stimulus dimensions in perception and memory: composition rules and psychophysical relations.

A series of five experiments used the method of magnitude estimation to assess how height and width are integrated in perceptual and in memorial judgments of area. Separate groups of subjects estimated the areas of perceived or remembered rectangles produced by a symmetrical 4 X 4 factorial design of height and width. Additional independent groups of observers made area judgments, based on special mixes of perceptual and memorial information referring to the height and width components of the to-be-judged rectangles. Both perceptual and memory data obeyed the bilinear interaction prediction of the normative multiplicative model. The relation between perceived and actual area as well as the relation between remembered and actual area could both be described by a compressive power function, with the exponent being reliably smaller for remembered than for perceived area. These results seem to imply a principle of integration rule invariance across perceptual and memorial estimates of a given set of stimuli, in conjunction with characteristically different valuation operations.

Integration of stimulus dimensions in perception and memory: Composition rules and psychophysical relations.

Integration of stimulus dimensions in perception and memory: Composition rules and psychophysical relations.

The psychophysics of taste from the entropy of the stimulus.

During the process of perceiving a steady taste stimulus, information is received, or (information) entropy is reduced. A single equation, the entropy equation, relates three fundamental variables—magnitude estimate, stimulus intensity, and stimulus duration. From this single equation, we can derive, in principle, all psychophysical relations for a steady taste stimulus, involving these three variables only. A number of examples are given. The Stevens exponent for taste is derived theoretically for certain experimental conditions, using statistical mechanics. Weber’s constant is derived in terms of the information transmitted per taste stimulus. The concept of a “surface of perception” is introduced.

Direct Estimation Considered within a Comparative Judgment Framework

Two experiments that employed the dimension of line length were conducted to support an interpretation of direct estimation within the framework of comparative judgment. It was reasoned that because memorial and processing demands increased, decreasing amounts of transmitted information should be found in discrimination, categorization, and estimation tasks when considered in that order. The data of the first experiment supported the prediction. However, external anchors provided to reduce demand in estimation had no apparent effect. A second study did indicate a marginal effect of anchors when subjects were instructed to employ them but, more strikingly, demonstrated that the shape of the psychophysical function was sensitive to the differential labels that accompanied the anchors. Labels derived from a Fechnerian assumption about psychophysical relations produced a Fechnerian function, whereas labels derived from the actual ratio of the stimulus line to the largest line produced a function consistent with Stevens's power law. It was concluded that the evidence favored a view of direct estimation consonant with cognitive interpretations rather than with the idea of a universal psychophysical function.

Synesthesia: II. Psychophysical relations in the synesthesia of geometrically shaped taste and colored hearing

The psychophysical function in two synesthetic subjects, one with geometrically shaped taste and the other with colored hearing, is investigated. Each synesthete is compared with three control subjects. Pilot studies are used to construct appropriate response domains. Compared to controls, synesthetes give a restricted set of responses that are also asymmetric with respect to the range of choices available in various subsets of the response domain. A combination of absolute and relative effects is also distinctive of synesthetic percepts. It is concluded that synesthesia is a distinct phenomenon unlike ordinary mediated associations, and occupies an intermediate position in the range of simple to complex brain mechanisms.