Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Language and Cognition01:27

Language and Cognition

Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

How Listening to and Remembering Accented and Non-Accented Speech Influences Walking Mechanics.

Ear and hearing·2026
Same author

Attention modulates the cortical representation of speech sounds in the spatial release from informational masking.

Auditory perception & cognition·2026
Same author

Testing a dominance-region hypothesis for interaural time discrimination using off-frequency maskers.

JASA express letters·2026
Same author

Extended High-Frequency Thresholds: Associations With Demographic and Risk Factors, Cognitive Ability, and Hearing Outcomes in Middle-Aged and Older Adults.

Ear and hearing·2024
Same author

Investigating the Utility of a Compact Loudspeaker Array for Audiometric Testing.

American journal of audiology·2024
Same author

An Exploratory Study of Walking, Listening, and Remembering in Younger and Middle-Aged Adults.

Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR·2023

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 5, 2026

A Dual Task Procedure Combined with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Test Attentional Blink for Nontargets
08:45

A Dual Task Procedure Combined with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Test Attentional Blink for Nontargets

Published on: December 5, 2014

Aging, spatial cues, and single- versus dual-task performance in competing speech perception.

Karen S Helfer1, Jamie Chevalier, Richard L Freyman

  • 1Department of Communication Disorders, University of Massachusetts, 358 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA. khelfer@comdis.umass.edu

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|January 12, 2011
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Older adults struggle with complex listening environments, but their difficulties in speech recognition may not stem from attention deficits. Spatial separation and masker meaningfulness impact speech understanding for all ages.

More Related Videos

A Gaze-Contingent Display Framework for Perceptual Learning Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss
07:12

A Gaze-Contingent Display Framework for Perceptual Learning Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss

Published on: April 11, 2025

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
10:38

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

Published on: July 16, 2015

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 5, 2026

A Dual Task Procedure Combined with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Test Attentional Blink for Nontargets
08:45

A Dual Task Procedure Combined with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Test Attentional Blink for Nontargets

Published on: December 5, 2014

A Gaze-Contingent Display Framework for Perceptual Learning Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss
07:12

A Gaze-Contingent Display Framework for Perceptual Learning Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss

Published on: April 11, 2025

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
10:38

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

Published on: July 16, 2015

Area of Science:

  • Auditory Perception
  • Cognitive Aging
  • Human Speech Processing

Background:

  • Older adults often experience challenges in multi-talker environments, requiring selective attention to speech.
  • Simulating complex listening scenarios is crucial for understanding age-related auditory difficulties.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the cognitive load of processing competing speech in older versus younger adults.
  • To examine the impact of spatial separation and masker characteristics on speech understanding and task performance.

Main Methods:

  • Speech recognition of a target talker was assessed in the presence of time-reversed masking voices.
  • Listeners performed a secondary task (counting maskers) concurrently with the primary speech recognition task.
  • The effect of spatial separation between target and masker was manipulated.

Main Results:

  • Older adults showed reduced speech recognition and less spatial release from masking compared to younger adults.
  • Spatial separation increased the dual-task cost for both age groups.
  • Meaningful maskers disproportionately impaired speech understanding in older adults.

Conclusions:

  • Age-related difficulties in complex listening are not solely attributable to deficits in attention switching or division.
  • Spatial cues and masker properties interact with age to influence speech perception.
  • Understanding the interplay between attention, spatial processing, and masker characteristics is key to addressing listening challenges in older adults.