Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

2599

Date

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Psychology

Committee Chair

Frank Andrasik

Committee Member

Gavin Bidelman

Committee Member

Philip Pavlik

Abstract

Categorical perception (CP) is the ability to make a comparative judgment on two or more sounds based on stored auditory perceptual information. CP has been shown to be influential on the expression of language proficiency and other cognitive processes such as reading. Prior research has shown that CP is impacted by attention and specific stimulus characteristics, with conflicting results purporting the expression of CP to occur under contradictory conditions. The current investigation examined the expression of neural and behavioral CP under different listening conditions (i.e., passive vs. active tasks) and during engagement with speech and music stimuli. Our results indicate that CP is influenced by attention (active > passive) and is stronger for more familiar stimulus domains (speech > music). Thus, CP does not generalize to other domains in which a listener is not experienced in and it requires a listener to be actively engaged with the auditory stimulus.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

Download

Share

COinS