Familiarization with meaningless sound patterns facilitates learning to detect those patterns among distracters
Initially “meaningless” and randomly generated sounds can be learned over exposure. This is demonstrated by studies where repetitions of randomly determined sound patterns are detected better if they are the same sounds presented on previous trials than if they are novel. This experiment posed two n...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.957389/full |
| _version_ | 1818049817536888832 |
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| author | Matthew G. Wisniewski |
| author_facet | Matthew G. Wisniewski |
| author_sort | Matthew G. Wisniewski |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Initially “meaningless” and randomly generated sounds can be learned over exposure. This is demonstrated by studies where repetitions of randomly determined sound patterns are detected better if they are the same sounds presented on previous trials than if they are novel. This experiment posed two novel questions about this learning. First, does familiarization with a sound outside of the repetition detection context facilitate later performance? Second, does familiarization enhance performance when repeats are interleaved with distracters? Listeners were first trained to categorize a unique pattern of synchronous complex tone trains (210 ms in duration) from other tone trains with similar qualities (familiarization phase). They were then tasked to detect repeated pattern presentations interleaved with similar distracters in 4.2 s long excerpts (repetition detection phase). The familiarized pattern (Familiar Fixed – FF), an unfamiliar pattern that remained fixed throughout (Unfamiliar Fixed – UF), or patterns that were uniquely determined on each trial (Unfamiliar Unfixed – UU) could be presented as repeats. FF patterns were learned at a faster rate and achieved higher repetition detection sensitivity than UF and UU patterns. Similarly, FF patterns also showed steeper learning slopes in their response times (RTs) than UF patterns. The data show that familiarity with a “meaningless” sound pattern on its own (i.e., without repetition) can facilitate repetition detection even in the presence of distracters. Familiarity effects become most apparent in the potential for learning. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T10:43:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4effbeb44b4b4bdaab66cec4cd0a3d80 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T10:43:36Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-4effbeb44b4b4bdaab66cec4cd0a3d802022-12-22T01:52:14ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-09-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.957389957389Familiarization with meaningless sound patterns facilitates learning to detect those patterns among distractersMatthew G. WisniewskiInitially “meaningless” and randomly generated sounds can be learned over exposure. This is demonstrated by studies where repetitions of randomly determined sound patterns are detected better if they are the same sounds presented on previous trials than if they are novel. This experiment posed two novel questions about this learning. First, does familiarization with a sound outside of the repetition detection context facilitate later performance? Second, does familiarization enhance performance when repeats are interleaved with distracters? Listeners were first trained to categorize a unique pattern of synchronous complex tone trains (210 ms in duration) from other tone trains with similar qualities (familiarization phase). They were then tasked to detect repeated pattern presentations interleaved with similar distracters in 4.2 s long excerpts (repetition detection phase). The familiarized pattern (Familiar Fixed – FF), an unfamiliar pattern that remained fixed throughout (Unfamiliar Fixed – UF), or patterns that were uniquely determined on each trial (Unfamiliar Unfixed – UU) could be presented as repeats. FF patterns were learned at a faster rate and achieved higher repetition detection sensitivity than UF and UU patterns. Similarly, FF patterns also showed steeper learning slopes in their response times (RTs) than UF patterns. The data show that familiarity with a “meaningless” sound pattern on its own (i.e., without repetition) can facilitate repetition detection even in the presence of distracters. Familiarity effects become most apparent in the potential for learning.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.957389/fullfrozen noiseperceptual learningtemporal dynamicspattern detectionlearning rateinformational masking |
| spellingShingle | Matthew G. Wisniewski Familiarization with meaningless sound patterns facilitates learning to detect those patterns among distracters Frontiers in Psychology frozen noise perceptual learning temporal dynamics pattern detection learning rate informational masking |
| title | Familiarization with meaningless sound patterns facilitates learning to detect those patterns among distracters |
| title_full | Familiarization with meaningless sound patterns facilitates learning to detect those patterns among distracters |
| title_fullStr | Familiarization with meaningless sound patterns facilitates learning to detect those patterns among distracters |
| title_full_unstemmed | Familiarization with meaningless sound patterns facilitates learning to detect those patterns among distracters |
| title_short | Familiarization with meaningless sound patterns facilitates learning to detect those patterns among distracters |
| title_sort | familiarization with meaningless sound patterns facilitates learning to detect those patterns among distracters |
| topic | frozen noise perceptual learning temporal dynamics pattern detection learning rate informational masking |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.957389/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT matthewgwisniewski familiarizationwithmeaninglesssoundpatternsfacilitateslearningtodetectthosepatternsamongdistracters |