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A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition
Published on: October 29, 2018
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Selective adaptation in sound lateralization is not due to a repulsion effect
Dennis P Phillips1, Emma J Mew2, Susan E Hall2
1Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and Department of Surgery, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, P.O. Box 15000, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 4R2, Canada dennis.phillips@dal.ca.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|December 7, 2014
Summary
Selective adaptation studies using modest dichotic stimuli found no evidence of a repulsion effect in sound lateralization. This challenges existing models of auditory perception and adaptation mechanisms.
Area of Science:
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Psychoacoustics
- Sensory Perception
Background:
- Selective adaptation studies in dichotic sound lateralization inform models of auditory perception.
- Previous research typically used highly lateralized stimuli to observe perceptual shifts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the repulsion effect in sound lateralization using modestly lateralized adaptor stimuli.
- To examine potential distortions in position judgments for test tones on both sides of the adaptor.
Main Methods:
- Utilized dichotic sound presentation with interaural time differences (ITDs) for sound lateralization.
- Employed modestly lateralized adaptor stimuli to probe for repulsion effects.
- Compared position judgments of test tones before and after selective adaptation.
Main Results:
- No evidence for a repulsion effect was found in position reports.
- Modestly lateralized adaptors did not induce the expected perceptual shifts away from the adaptor.
Conclusions:
- The findings do not support a repulsion mechanism in sound lateralization under these conditions.
- Results suggest current three-channel models of lateralization may need refinement.
- Further research is needed to understand the role of adaptor laterality in selective adaptation.
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