Sensory Judgments Research Articles

Interference of mid-level sound statistics underlie human speech recognition sensitivity in natural noise.

Recognizing speech in noise, such as in a busy restaurant, is an essential cognitive skill where the task difficulty varies across environments and noise levels. Although there is growing evidence that the auditory system relies on statistical representations for perceiving 1-5 and coding4,6-9 natural sounds, it's less clear how statistical cues and neural representations contribute to segregating speech in natural auditory scenes. We demonstrate that human listeners rely on mid-level statistics to segregate and recognize speech in environmental noise. Using natural backgrounds and variants with perturbed spectro-temporal statistics, we show that speech recognition accuracy at a fixed noise level varies extensively across natural backgrounds (0% to 100%). Furthermore, for each background the unique interference created by summary statistics can mask or unmask speech, thus hindering or improving speech recognition. To identify the neural coding strategy and statistical cues that influence accuracy, we developed generalized perceptual regression, a framework that links summary statistics from a neural model to word recognition accuracy. Whereas a peripheral cochlear model accounts for only 60% of perceptual variance, summary statistics from a mid-level auditory midbrain model accurately predicts single trial sensory judgments, accounting for more than 90% of the perceptual variance. Furthermore, perceptual weights from the regression framework identify which statistics and tuned neural filters are influential and how they impact recognition. Thus, perception of speech in natural backgrounds relies on a mid-level auditory representation involving interference of multiple summary statistics that impact recognition beneficially or detrimentally across natural background sounds.

Large language models predict human sensory judgments across six modalities

Determining the extent to which the perceptual world can be recovered from language is a longstanding problem in philosophy and cognitive science. We show that state-of-the-art large language models can unlock new insights into this problem by providing a lower bound on the amount of perceptual information that can be extracted from language. Specifically, we elicit pairwise similarity judgments from GPT models across six psychophysical datasets. We show that the judgments are significantly correlated with human data across all domains, recovering well-known representations like the color wheel and pitch spiral. Surprisingly, we find that a model (GPT-4) co-trained on vision and language does not necessarily lead to improvements specific to the visual modality, and provides highly correlated predictions with human data irrespective of whether direct visual input is provided or purely textual descriptors. To study the impact of specific languages, we also apply the models to a multilingual color-naming task. We find that GPT-4 replicates cross-linguistic variation in English and Russian illuminating the interaction of language and perception.

Between Scientific and Sensory Knowledge: Exploring the Enactment of Clay Sensibilities Among Clay Artists in Singapore

This article explores how clay artists in Singapore utilize both their scientific and sensory knowledge of clay-making in producing clay works. Based on a study of the biographies and sensory experiences of clay artists, clay artists rely simultaneously on their scientific knowledge and understanding of clay firing processes, temperatures, and glazing, together with their sensory judgment and experience of the same set of processes, to produce clay works of different design, effect, and form. Thermoreceptive understanding and knowledge of how clay reacts and behaves toward the different styles of firing are deployed by clay artists through both a scientific calibration of temperature, as well as one’s sensory evaluation—including visual and sonic judgments—of fire-control toward producing intended textures and forms. Through making sense of how scientific and sensory knowledges are concurrently enacted but not without contradictions, we make a case for how creative clay work-making straddles across different domains of learning, knowledge use, teaching, and evaluation emerging through kairotic moments. The article contributes to extant debates on art worlds, material culture, sensory knowledges, and embodied experiences through clay work as a medium of analysis.

Discrimination and chemical composition quantitative model of Raw Moutan Cortex and Moutan Cortex Carbon based on electronic nose and machine learning.

Raw Moutan Cortex (RMC) is a traditional medicinal material commonly used in China. Moutan Cortex Carbon (MCC) is a processed product of RMC by stir-frying. As raw and processed products of the same Chinese herb pieces, they have different effects. RMC has the effects of clearing heat and cooling blood, promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, but MCC has the contrary effect of cooling blood and hemostasis. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish them effectively. The traditional quality evaluation method of RMC and MCC still adopts character identification, and mainly relies on the working experience and sensory judgment of employees with experience. This will lead to strong subjectivity and poor repeatability. And the final evaluation result may cause inevitable errors and the processed products with different processing degrees in actual production, which affects the clinical efficacy. In this study, the electronic nose technology was introduced to objectively digitize the odor of RMC and MCC. And the discrimination model of RMC and MCC was constructed in order to establish a rapid, objective and stable quality evaluation method of RMC and MCC. According to the correlation analysis, the experiment found the content of gallic acid, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), paeoniflorin and paeonol determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) had a certain correlation with their odor characteristics. Thus, partial least squares regression (PLSR) and support vector machine regression (SVR) were compared and established the chemical composition quantitative model. Results showed that the quantitative data of RMC and MCC odor could be used to predict the contents of the chemical components. It can be used for quality control of RCM and MCC.

Lexicon, sensory wheel and kit as sensory communication tools: a review

A lexicon comprises a collection of standardized sensory vocabulary of product along with its unambiguous definitions and references. It is widely used as a communication tool among sensory panel and it provides sensory insights to product developers, marketing professionals, and suppliers, across countries or cultures to describe similar products. Specific sensory lexicon have been developed for beverages, dairy, fruits and vegetables, nuts and grains, soy and meat products, and animal feed. Based on its lexicon, a sensory wheel can be established hierarchically as an overview of the entire product’s sensory attributes. Furthermore, an intense training for panels is necessary to get a good sensory judgement. Sensory panel calibration can be performed such as by using sensory kit as a training tools. The aim of this paper is to review the latest developed lexicon, sensory wheel and sensory kit, as well as its application.

Comparison of metabolites and variety authentication of Amomum tsao-ko and Amomum paratsao-ko using GC\u2013MS and NIR spectroscopy

Amomum tsao-ko, as an edible and medicinal variety, has been cultivated for more than 600 years in China. Recently, two cultivars, A. tsao-ko and Amomum paratsao-ko, were found in A. tsao-ko planting area. The two cultivars are often confused because of the similar phenotype and difficult to distinguish through sensory judgment. In this study, the non-targeted gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) metabolomics combined with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) were used for dissecting the two cultivars with phenotypic differences. According to principal component analysis (PCA) loading diagram and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) S-plot of the metabolites, the accumulation of major components including 1,8-cineole, α-phellandrene, (E)-2-decenal, (−)-β-pinene, (E)-2-octenal, 1-octanal, D-limonene, and decanal, were present differences between the two cultivars. Seven metabolites potential differentiated biomarkers as β-selinene, decamethylcyclopentasiloxane, (E,Z)-2,6-dodecadienal, (E)-2-hexenal, (E)-2-decenal, isogeranial, 1,8-cineole and β-cubebene were determined. Although A. tsao-ko and A. paratsao-ko belong to the same genera and are similar in plant and fruit morphology, the composition and content of the main components were exposed significant discrepancy, so it is necessary to distinguish them. In this study, the discriminant model established by GC–MS or NIRS combined with multivariate analysis has achieved a good classification effect. NIRS has the advantages of simple, fast and nondestructive and can be used for rapid identification of varieties and fruit tissues.

Ways of Tacit Knowing

A common way to describe craft knowledge is through the figure of speech it's in your hands. With this description, there is no attempt made to explain the complex knowledge which is present in craft. One reason why these explanations are rarely articulated is that they consist of sensory judgments. With this film, Ways of Tacit Knowing, we argue that, with the help of film media, it is possible to decode and articulate some of the knowledge content embodied in craft that is often described as tacit knowledge. We, the producers of this film, are experienced craftspeople, which makes us at once both subjects and objects of the research—a methodology akin to auto-ethnography. In the film, we present examples of situations from practice in our different craft fields: the practice in cultivation and management in gardening and the practice of culinary crafts situated in the kitchen and in the dining room. This film presents a dialogue of knowledge in action with craftspeople who discuss their sensory-based judgments in crafts

A Surgeon’s Hand

Abstract The Suśrutasaṃhitā, an early first-millennium Ayurvedic treatise with an emphasis on surgery, recommends a procedure for examining a corpse after first submerging it in a river. Prompted by the sensory insights of a contemporary Ayurvedic physician who simulated “hydro-dissection” on a human hand, I offer a sensory reading of representations of surgeons and surgical tactility in early South Asia. This study demonstrates that surgeons are represented in early first-millennium treatises as possessing specialized medical knowledge, performing dangerous procedures, and having greater sensory and bodily intimacy in their engagement with patients than general physicians. First, I compare passages describing physicians’ sensory engagements in diagnostic examination in the Carakasaṃhitā and Suśrutasaṃhitā. Then I examine representations of surgeons and surgical practice in the Carakasaṃhitā, a general medical compendium. Finally, I demonstrate that surgical tactility is represented in the Suśrutasaṃhitā as an interplay of sensory knowledge, technical skill, experience, and judgment, constituting the surgeon’s hand.

Body Part Highlighting: Exploring two types of embodied practices in two sub-types of showing sequences in video-mediated consultations

Consultations in healthcare settings involve an initial phase of “history-taking”, during which the healthcare professional examines the client for symptoms by asking questions, making the client show symptoms on his or her own body, and performing bodily examinations. But how can bodily symptoms be identified when the interaction is video-mediated and sensory access is limited? One key resource here is “body showings”. However, research suggests that video-mediated teleconsultations reduce body showings due to both technical difficulties and sensory obstruction. In this paper, we provide a contrary case that shows two types of practices employed for successful history-taking through body-part showings. Based on an analysis of an “evocative showing sequence” (Licoppe, 2017), we present two types of gestural highlighting practices, via two types of showing sub-sequences: 1) “mimicable body part highlighting”, which occurs in a sequence of “adapting-body-to-frame”; and 2) “direct body part highlighting”, which occurs in a sequence of “adapting-frame-to-body”. The paper uses a single case to discuss how gestures work in a video-mediated context and how sensory judgements are not just a property of the healthcare professional, but are distributed to clients who are able to creatively adapt to situated contingencies in order to accomplish common understanding about the symptoms. The data consist of video-recorded, video-mediated physiotherapy consultations in Denmark, analysed using ethnomethodological conversation analysis (EMCA). The paper contributes to EMCA research on mediated interaction and embodied, gestural and sensorial practices.

THE ROLE OF VISUAL PREFERENCES IN ARCHITECTURE VIEWS

Since the biggest part of the human relationship with environments occurs through visual sense, the interests and wills of humans in seeing environment and architecture are important. In fact, these interests give personal or individual aspects of architecture. The role of these visual interests and mental judgments of architecture audience is very important, such that architecture has become a function of the visual preferences of the audience. Therefore, realizing these preferences is important to form architecture and ignoring them results in not providing the desired architecture condition for the audience or the required motivations for producing useful mental images to meet the basic needs of the audience. Accordingly, this study addresses the role of visual preferences in the formation of environment architecture? And which factors in this environment affect this concept? Thus, this study aims to describe the visual preferences paradigm in architecture in order to examine its different aspects in relation to human and environmental behaviors and determine the effective factors, so This study was conducted using Bourdieu’s “distinction theory” and the nature of sensory judgment with the help of field studies and descriptive analysis a number of audiences of 62 different residential environments. As a result of this research, natural, memorable, evocative environments along with the combination of open and closed spaces have shown the most visual preferences of the person towards architecture that the mental images of the person with cultural roots have been very effective in judging architecture views.

Signal detection theory and psychoacoustics

This talk will trace the early history of signal detection theory (SDT) with a particular emphasis on its applications in psychoacoustics. SDT, as developed at the University of Michigan (U-M) in the mid-1950s, revolutionized psychophysics by introducing a core assumption: all sensory judgements are limited by “noise” of one sort or another and, as such, are reflective of underlying decision processes. To test and flesh-out this new theory, early empirical work in vision quickly turned to audition and a remarkably fruitful 12-year period followed, from roughly 1954 to 1966. This talk will focus on that 12-year period, bracketed, on the one end, by the establishment of an auditory research laboratory at U-M by Wilson P. “Spike” Tanner and, on the other, by the publication of Green and Swets’ (1966) seminal text. The principle documents and publications of that period—particularly those that appeared in this society’s Journal—will be reviewed, with a discussion of their intellectual and historical context. Emphasis will be given to the investigations of the Electronic Defense Group at U-M and those of other legendary psychoacousticians. In particular, the work of Tanner, the key instigator in the transition from “statistical decision theory” to SDT in psychoacoustics, will be discussed.

Dark vs. light drinks: The influence of visual appearance on the consumer’s experience of beer

We report evidence concerning how the visual appearance of a drink (dark vs. light pale/amber beer) can influence the consumer’s tasting experience. Two experiments were designed to study the effect of visual appearance on people’s hedonic and sensory judgments of beer. Importantly, the beers were indistinguishable in terms of their flavor when tasted in the absence of visual cues.Participants rated the same beer (pale or dark, depending in which group they were assigned) under blind conditions as having more body than when tasted under sighted condition (regardless of whether it was pale or dark; see Experiment 1).When the participants evaluated the expectations and tasting experience of the two different beers under sighted conditions (pale vs. dark), after tasting, those who preferred pale beers, rated the darker beer as tasting sweeter than those who usually prefer other types of beers, such as dark ones (see Experiment 2). Prior tasting, when asked which beer they thought was the most expensive, the majority of the participants chose the darker beer. Furthermore, after tasting both beers, participants reported being willing to pay up to 6% more on average for the darker beer as compared to the pale one.

Sensitivity to viscosity changes and subsequent estimates of satiety across different senses

While it is widely accepted that texture is a multimodal in nature, little research has been published regarding how we use senses other than touch to assess texture. In beverages, humans use texture (i.e. viscosity) information to estimate calories and expected satiety. This study was designed to compare and contrast the sensitivity of humans to changes in viscosity and their ability to estimate satiety through different sensory modalities. Milk samples of varying viscosities were constructed, and 49 participants were asked to perform a series of 2-alternative forced choice tests and identify which sample was thicker. Sensitivity to viscosity changes across different sensory modalities was determined by having each participant consume the samples, listen to the samples pouring, and observe clear vials of the samples. Using vision, participants were notably less sensitive to changes in viscosity when compared to hearing or oral tactile sensations. Interestingly, oral tactile sensations and hearing were almost identical in their viscosity difference thresholds (0.346 cP and 0.360 cP, respectively). Similar patterns were observed when the participants were asked to estimate how full they expected to be after consuming beverage stimuli varying in viscosity. Expected caloric values and satiation were found to change with thickness level when participants were assessing the stimuli through the auditory or tactile modalities. However, these measures of expected caloric value and satiation did not change as a function of viscosity for visual assessment, suggesting the assessment of caloric density and satiation are linked to specific sensory modalities’ ability to detect viscosity. This study highlights the relative importance of vision, auditory, and touch to forming our sensory judgements regarding viscosity and subsequent satiety estimations.

Neural correlates of future-oriented coping: Preliminary evidence from a resting-state functional connectivity study.

Future-oriented coping is a strategy for coping with events that may happen in the future, including efforts to ensure positive outcome and protection from potential threats. Appropriate future-oriented coping is essential for well-being and influences mental health and life satisfaction. However, little is known about the neural mechanism of future-oriented coping. We examined the neural basis of this coping strategy using resting-state functional connectivity analysis. Thirty healthy volunteers underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning and completed the Future-Oriented Coping Inventory. Seed-based functional connectivity analysis was used to investigate potentially correlated regions, with 11 nodes in the default mode network defined as regions of interest. Multiple regression analysis was performed to measure the correlation between coping behavior and functional connectivity. We found that proactive coping was significantly correlated with the functional connectivity strength between the parahippocampal cortex (PHC) and the claustrum/insula. These novel findings suggest that cooperation between the PHC and the claustrum/insula plays an important role in proactive coping. Moreover, cognitive components, such as future thinking (the PHC) and sensory judgment (the claustrum/insula) could be important process factors in proactive coping.

Telemedicine and the senses: a review.

Telemedicine technologies have been presented as solutions to the challenges of equitable, cost-effective and efficient health service provision for over two decades. The ways in which the sensory dimensions of medical care and the doctor-patient relationship are mediated via telemedicine can be important contributors to the success, failure or unintended consequences of telemedicine. In this article, we present a review of the relevant literature in social research that provides insights into the sensory dimensions of telemedicine. In addition to considering important relevant work undertaken in the sociology of health and illness, we incorporate perspectives and research from other disciplines and fields that we believe can contribute to the development of scholarship on this topic. We contend that when doctors, patients and other healthcare workers enact telemedicine, sensory judgements have become, in part, a sensing of sensors. Viewing healthcare practitioners and patients as always and already digital data assemblages of flesh-code-space-place-affect-senses, demanding certain kinds of body work and data sense-making, constitutes a productive theoretical approach for future enquiries into telemedicine and other digital health technologies.

The Impact of Feedback on the Different Time Courses of Multisensory Temporal Recalibration.

The capacity to rapidly adjust perceptual representations confers a fundamental advantage when confronted with a constantly changing world. Unexplored is how feedback regarding sensory judgments (top-down factors) interacts with sensory statistics (bottom-up factors) to drive long- and short-term recalibration of multisensory perceptual representations. Here, we examined the time course of both cumulative and rapid temporal perceptual recalibration for individuals completing an audiovisual simultaneity judgment task in which they were provided with varying degrees of feedback. We find that in the presence of feedback (as opposed to simple sensory exposure) temporal recalibration is more robust. Additionally, differential time courses are seen for cumulative and rapid recalibration dependent upon the nature of the feedback provided. Whereas cumulative recalibration effects relied more heavily on feedback that informs (i.e., negative feedback) rather than confirms (i.e., positive feedback) the judgment, rapid recalibration shows the opposite tendency. Furthermore, differential effects on rapid and cumulative recalibration were seen when the reliability of feedback was altered. Collectively, our findings illustrate that feedback signals promote and sustain audiovisual recalibration over the course of cumulative learning and enhance rapid trial-to-trial learning. Furthermore, given the differential effects seen for cumulative and rapid recalibration, these processes may function via distinct mechanisms.

Layers of sense: the sensory work of diagnostic sensemaking in digital health.

Sensory judgements have always been a part of medical practice and this sensory work is often entangled with technologies, from the stethoscope to digitised devices for advanced life support. This article investigates this sensory work and its entanglements with technological sensors in diagnostic practice. Based on semi-structured interviews, it presents a close analysis of practitioners’ use of anaesthetic monitoring and telemedicine. It argues that senses and sensors are recursively combined in the moment towards understanding. In this, digital technologies do not present self-evident data, but rather the practitioner must learn to sense the sensors to interpret health and illness. Sensory work (of both the senses and sensors) is not dispensable or entirely delegable because it is intimately entwined with sensemaking. The significance of sensory work to sensemaking reinforces the importance of its consideration in digital health sociotechnical assemblages.

Swiss identity smells like chocolate: Social identity shapes olfactory judgments.

There is extensive evidence that social identities can shape people’s attitudes and behavior, but what about sensory judgments? We examined the possibility that social identity concerns may also shape the judgment of non-social properties—namely, olfactory judgment. In two experiments, we presented Swiss and non-Swiss participants with the odor of chocolate, for which Switzerland is world-famous, and a control odor (popcorn). Swiss participants primed with Swiss identity reported the odor of chocolate (but not popcorn) as more intense than non-Swiss participants (Experiments 1 and 2) and than Swiss participants primed with individual identity or not primed (Experiment 2). The self-reported intensity of chocolate smell tended to increase as identity accessibility increased—but only among Swiss participants (Experiment 1). These results suggest that identity priming can counter-act classic sensory habituation effects, allowing identity-relevant smells to maintain their intensity after repeated presentations. This suggests that social identity dynamically influences sensory judgment. We discuss the potential implications for models of social identity and chemosensory perception.

Proprioceptive-Visual Integration and Embodied Cognition: A Developmental Perspective.

The present study addressed whether a spatial matching task relying on inter-sensory judgments might be influenced by the transition between egocentric and decentered mode of thinking. Thirty-six children aged 5, 7, or 9 years performed a paramedian correspondence task with conditions requiring inter-sensory integration (visual-proprioceptive) and a problem-solving task. The visual information was given through a mirror that perturbed the sensory judgments in the paramedian correspondence task. The results did not corroborate the hypotheses; nevertheless, the increasing importance of proprioception in the perceptual judgments for older children suggests that although younger children may be body centered (egocentric mode of thinking), older children seemed more able to use body to mediate their perceptual judgments.

Functional, textural and sensory properties of dry pasta supplemented with lyophilized tomato matrix or with durum wheat bran extracts produced by supercritical carbon dioxide or ultrasound

A study was carried out to produce functional pasta by adding bran aqueous extract (BW) and bran oleoresin (BO) obtained using ultrasound and supercritical CO2, respectively, or a powdery lyophilized tomato matrix (LT). The bioactive compounds, hydrophilic and lipophilic antioxidant activity (HAA and LAA) in vitro, were evaluated. BW supplementation did not improve antioxidant activity, whilst LT pasta showed unconventional taste and odor. BO pasta had good levels of tocochromanols (2551μg/100g pasta f.w.) and carotenoids (40.2μg/100g pasta f.w.), and the highest HAA and LAA. The oleoresin altered starch swelling and gluten network, as evidenced by scanning electron microscopy, therefore BO pasta had structural characteristics poor compared with the control (4.8% vs. 3.2% cooking loss), although this difference did not affect significantly overall sensory judgment (74 vs. 79 for BO and control, respectively). BO supplementation was most effective for increasing antioxidant activity without jeopardizing pasta quality.