School of Psychology, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Parklands Drive, Southport, QLD, Australia.
Exp Brain Res. 2011 Oct;214(4):597-605. doi: 10.1007/s00221-011-2858-x. Epub 2011 Sep 13.
Previous research examining cross-modal conflicts in object recognition has often made use of animal vocalizations and images, which may be considered natural and ecologically valid, thus strengthening the association in the congruent condition. The current research tested whether the same cross-modal conflict would exist for man-made object sounds as well as comparing the speed and accuracy of auditory processing across the two object categories. Participants were required to attend to a sound paired with a visual stimulus and then respond to a verification item (e.g., "Dog?"). Sounds were congruent (same object), neutral (unidentifiable image), or incongruent (different object) with the images presented. In the congruent and neutral condition, animals were recognized significantly faster and with greater accuracy than man-made objects. It was hypothesized that in the incongruent condition, no difference in reaction time or error rate would be found between animals and man-made objects. This prediction was not supported, indicating that the association between an object's sound and image may not be that disparate when comparing animals to man-made objects. The findings further support cross-modal conflict research for both the animal and man-made object category. The most important finding, however, was that auditory processing is enhanced for living compared to nonliving objects, a difference only previously found in visual processing. Implications relevant to both the neuropsychological literature and sound research are discussed.
先前研究考察了在物体识别中的跨模态冲突，通常利用动物的叫声和图像，这可能被认为是自然和生态有效的，从而加强了在一致条件下的联想。当前的研究测试了人造物体声音是否也存在相同的跨模态冲突，并比较了这两种物体类别在听觉处理中的速度和准确性。要求参与者关注与视觉刺激配对的声音，然后对验证项目做出响应（例如，“狗？”）。声音与呈现的图像一致（相同的物体）、中性（无法识别的图像）或不一致（不同的物体）。在一致和中性条件下，动物的识别速度明显快于人造物体，并且准确性更高。假设在不一致的条件下，动物和人造物体之间在反应时间或错误率方面不会发现差异。这一预测并未得到支持，表明在比较动物和人造物体时，物体的声音和图像之间的关联可能没有那么不同。这些发现进一步支持了对动物和人造物体这两个类别的跨模态冲突研究。然而，最重要的发现是，与无生命物体相比，听觉处理对生物物体更加增强，这种差异以前只在视觉处理中发现过。讨论了与神经心理学文献和声音研究相关的含义。
