PY 359 Perception - Module 10: Perceiving Speech and Music

Vocabulary flashcards based on lecture notes about speech and music perception.

Vocalizations

Meaningful sounds produced by animals, especially primates, for communication.

Language

A system of communication using words and grammar, uniquely studied in humans.

Trachea

The windpipe, part of the vocal apparatus through which exhaled air travels.

Larynx

The voice box, containing vocal folds, part of the human vocal apparatus.

Pharynx

The upper throat, part of the human vocal apparatus.

Vocal Folds (Vocal Cords)

Structures within the larynx that vibrate to produce voice.

Voice Pitch

Influenced by size and thickness of vocal folds, larynx size/shape, and throat muscle contraction.

Fundamental Frequency (f0)

Typical ranges for adult males (85-180 Hz), adult females (165-255 Hz), and children (>300 Hz).

Intonation

Changes in fundamental frequency of voice, controlled by throat muscles.

Uvula

Structure that can close off the nasal cavity from the oral cavity.

Phoneme

The smallest unit of spoken language, including consonants and vowels.

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

A system for representing phonemes.

Vowels

Speech sounds produced with air flowing freely through the oral cavity.

Formants

Peaks in the frequency spectrum when producing vowels.

Consonants

Speech sounds produced with restriction of air flow.

Place of Articulation

The point along the vocal tract where airflow is constricted for consonants.

Manner of Articulation

The nature of the airflow restriction for consonants.

Voicing

Vibration of the vocal cords during speech production.

Coarticulation

The influence of a phoneme on the acoustic properties of subsequent phonemes.

Constancy

The ability to perceive an object as being the same despite changes in environmental conditions.

Color Constancy

The ability to perceive the color of an object despite changes in illumination.

Categorical Perception

Perception of different stimuli as identical until a change is sufficient to belong to a new category.

Continuous Perception

Perception that varies directly with changes in stimulus (e.g., line length, pitch of tone).

Voice Onset Time (VOT)

Interval between onset of a consonant and onset of vocal fold vibration.

Syntax

Grammatical rules of language.

Semantics

Word meaning.

Phonemic Restoration

An illusion in which context causes people to report having heard masked speech sounds.

McGurk Effect

A perceptual phenomenon where conflict between auditory and visual stimuli results in a perceptual compromise in speech perception.

General Mechanism Theories

Theories that view speech as analyzed using similar perceptual mechanisms as other stimuli.

Special Mechanism Theories

Theories that posit speech is analyzed via unique neurocognitive systems.

Motor Theory of Speech Perception

The idea that speech is perceived by inferring articulatory movements of the speaker’s mouth.

Aphasia

An impairment in language production or comprehension brought about by neurological damage.

Broca's Aphasia

A type of aphasia characterized by extreme difficulty producing speech.

Wernicke's Aphasia

A type of aphasia with severe deficits to speech comprehension but not production.

Phonological Network

Left superior temporal sulcus, responds to speech.

Dorsal Pathway

A neural pathway involved in speech production and processing syntax.

Ventral Pathway

A neural pathway involved in representing the meanings of words and combinations of words.

Music

Ordered sound made and perceived by human beings, created in meaningful patterns.

Octave

The interval between one note and a note with either double or half of its fundamental frequency.

Scale

A set of ordered notes starting at one note and ending on the same note one octave higher.

Chromatic Scale

All of the semitones (12 notes).

Diatonic Scales

Seven note scales with five whole tones and two semitones.

Pentatonic Scales

Five note scales, seen in many forms of music around the world.

Harmony

An arrangement of pitches that sound pleasing together.

Consonance

The perception of pleasantness or harmony when 2+ notes are played.

Dissonance

The perception of unpleasantness or disharmony when 2+ notes are played.

Dynamics

The relative loudness and how loudness changes across a composition.

Rhythm

The temporal patterning of music, including tempo, meter, and beat.

Tempo

How fast or slow the music is played.

Meter

The temporal pattern of sound across time.

Beat

Spaced pulses of sound that indicate whether a piece is fast or slow.

Timbre

Difference in sound quality between two sounds with the same pitch and loudness.

Melody

A rhythmically-organized sequence of notes that is perceived as a single musical unit or idea.

Key

A system of related groups of notes deriving from a scale with a central note called the tonic.

Tonic

The first note of the scale.

Transposition

The process of shifting a melody from one key to another.

Gestalt Psychology

A school of thought that argues higher levels of organization are more important than simpler elements.

Common Fate

Elements that move in unison are likely to be grouped.

Proximity

Elements that are closer together are grouped more easily than those which are further apart.

Similarity

Similar elements tend to group together.

Closure

Melodies tend to end on the tonic note or a note implied by the progression of the melody.

Synesthesia

A condition in which stimulation in one modality consistently triggers an experience in another modality.

Color-Music Synesthesia

Specific pitches, notes, or chords evoke specific colors.

Amusia

A severe impairment in the ability to accurately perceive or produce music.

Speech Production

The process of producing spoken language, involving the vocal apparatus.

Speech Perception

The process of understanding spoken language.

Vocal Apparatus

The system in humans used to shape speech, including the trachea, larynx, pharynx, and oral/nasal cavities.

Individual Differences

Variations in fundamental frequency among different speakers.

Regional Dialects and Accents

Variations in speech sounds across different geographic regions.

Tone of Voice

Changes to vocal apparatus influencing speech like shouting, whispering, or singing.

Indistinct Boundaries

The lack of clear separations between words in natural speech.

Perceptual Constancy

The phenomenon where phonemes are correctly perceived despite variations.

Normal Sentences

Sentences with correct syntax and semantics.

Anomalous Sentences

Sentences with correct syntax but no semantics.

Ungrammatical Sentences

Sentences with no syntax or semantics.

Pre-attentive Stage

An early stage of processing where phonemic restoration occurs effortlessly.

Audiovisual Contribution

The enhancement of phonemic restoration when the talker's mouth is visible.

Perceptual Compromise

The outcome of the McGurk Effect where the perceived phoneme is influenced by both auditory and visual cues.

Neurocognitive Systems

Unique systems used to analyze speech according to special mechanism theories.

Brain Damage

Neurological harm that can selectively alter language function.

Grammatical Structure

The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences.

Superior Temporal Cortex

Brain area where damage leads to Wernicke's aphasia.

Superior Temporal Sulcus

The part of the brain which responds specifically to speech.

Left Lateralized

A function primarily controlled by the left hemisphere of the brain.

Motor System

System used in speech production through the dorsal pathway.

Western Music

Music that typically uses pitches from 27.5 to 5000 Hz.

Singing Voices

Vocal range of approximately 75-1300 Hz in music.

Semitones

Intervals used to divide an octave in western music.

Instruments

Man-made devices used to create sound and music.

Synthesizer

An electronic instrument that can mimic the sounds of other instruments.

Key Signature

Related to scales that define melodies.

Relationships Between Notes

The defining characteristic of a melody.

Visual Cortex

Brain area often activated by music alongside the auditory cortex.

Pitch Discriminations

Distinguishing between small variations in the frequency of a sound.

Rhythm Production

Creating rhythms is associated with greater left hemisphere activation.

Gestalt Principles

Methods used to examine the principles of perceptual grouping.

Perceptual Grouping

When elements move in unison.

Temporal Proximity

Longer intervals that provide time for transitions between different frequencies.

Similarity of Timbre

Continuous sound made when different people play the same instrument and note.

The Perception of Music

The human ability to process and understand ordered sound and rhythm.