The processing of audio-visual speech: empirical and neural bases

In this selective review, I outline a number of ways in which seeing the talker affects auditory perception of speech, including, but not confined to, the McGurk effect. To date, studies suggest that all linguistic levels are susceptible to visual influence, and that two main modes of processing can be described: a complementary mode, whereby vision provides information more efficiently than hearing for some under-specified parts of the speech stream, and a correlated mode, whereby vision partially duplicates information about dynamic articulatory patterning.Cortical correlates of seen speech suggest that at the neurological as well as the perceptual level, auditory processing of speech is affected by vision, so that 'auditory speech regions' are activated by seen speech. The processing of natural speech, whether it is heard, seen or heard and seen, activates the perisylvian language regions (left>right). It is highly probable that activation occurs in a specific order. First, superior temporal, then inferior parietal and finally inferior frontal regions (left>right) are activated. There is some differentiation of the visual input stream to the core perisylvian language system, suggesting that complementary seen speech information makes special use of the visual ventral processing stream, while for correlated visual speech, the dorsal processing stream, which is sensitive to visual movement, may be relatively more involved.     

Neural processes underlying statistical learning for speech segmentation in dogs

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Proselytization and popular music: A policy framework for religious musical expression in public schools

What legal and ethical issues arise when students choose to perform popular music with explicitly religious content? The purpose of this article is to construct a policy framework for discussing the use of popular religious music within the classroom, with a specific focus on the concept of proselytization as legal criteria for setting appropriate curricular boundaries. Three recent American federal court cases are examined: O.T. et al v. Frenchtown Elementary School District (465 F.Supp.2d 329, 2006); Golden v. Rossford Unified School District (445 F.Supp.2d 820, 2006); and DeNooyer v. Livonia Public Schools (799 F.Supp. 744, 1994). Conclusions suggest that when music teachers encourage student expression via the composition and performance of popular music, schools must balance students' rights to free expression with maintaining a viewpoint-neutral school environment. Criteria of particular importance in determining whether particular musical expressions are appropriate include the age of the students and the possible presence of a captive audience.     

Neural substrates of processing syntax and semantics in music

Growing evidence indicates that syntax and semantics are basic aspects of music. After the onset of a chord, initial music-syntactic processing can be observed at about 150-400 ms and processing of musical semantics at about 300-500 ms. Processing of musical syntax activates inferior frontolateral cortex, ventrolateral premotor cortex and presumably the anterior part of the superior temporal gyrus. These brain structures have been implicated in sequencing of complex auditory information, identification of structural relationships, and serial prediction. Processing of musical semantics appears to activate posterior temporal regions. The processes and brain structures involved in the perception of syntax and semantics in music have considerable overlap with those involved in language perception, underlining intimate links between music and language in the human brain.     

Neural representation of spectral and temporal information in speech

Speech is the most interesting and one of the most complex sounds dealt with by the auditory system. The neural representation of speech needs to capture those features of the signal on which the brain depends in language communication. Here we describe the representation of speech in the auditory nerve and in a few sites in the central nervous system from the perspective of the neural coding of important aspects of the signal. The representation is tonotopic, meaning that the speech signal is decomposed by frequency and different frequency components are represented in different populations of neurons. Essential to the representation are the properties of frequency tuning and nonlinear suppression. Tuning creates the decomposition of the signal by frequency, and nonlinear suppression is essential for maintaining the representation across sound levels. The representation changes in central auditory neurons by becoming more robust against changes in stimulus intensity and more transient. However, it is probable that the form of the representation at the auditory cortex is fundamentally different from that at lower levels, in that stimulus features other than the distribution of energy across frequency are analysed.     

Functional imaging of the auditory processing applied to speech sounds

In this paper, we describe domain-general auditory processes that we believe are prerequisite to the linguistic analysis of speech. We discuss biological evidence for these processes and how they might relate to processes that are specific to human speech and language. We begin with a brief review of (i) the anatomy of the auditory system and (ii) the essential properties of speech sounds. Section 4 describes the general auditory mechanisms that we believe are applied to all communication sounds, and how functional neuroimaging is being used to map the brain networks associated with domain-general auditory processing. Section 5 discusses recent neuroimaging studies that explore where such general processes give way to those that are specific to human speech and language.     

Troubleshooting in gene splicing by overlap extension

A step-wise method for cloning intron-containing genes from genomic DNA is described. The two exons of the human proinsulin gene were separately amplified in two steps using, in the first step, completely homologous primers. This reduces unwanted interactions between mismatched primers and a complex DNA template such as genomic DNA. The fragments were amplified in a second step polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using mismatched primers that incorporated additional bases complementary to the other exon, and these products were spliced together in a third step PCR.     

Appropriating school music for economic goals: Exploring evidence of neo-social ideology in music advocacy

This article explores the extent to which recent policy-based advocacy for music in Australian schools has been guided by economic arguments. This exploration was driven by emerging commentary on the rise of neo-social education policy, which is said to have reframed equality and social justice in education as tools for economic agendas. To explore the presence of this neo-social ideology in school music advocacy, key Australian policy documents have been analyzed using Critical Discourse Analysis. Results show that while current advocacy does champion social and subjective benefits, these benefits are ultimately justified in economistic terms. While caveats to these findings are discussed, the argument is made for new education policies that adequately value subjective wellbeing and social justice as goals in their own right.     

Serve and return: Communication foundations for early childhood music policy stakeholders

ABSTRACT

Serve-and-return interactions between a young child and caregiver are cited as integral to healthy child development and language development. In this article, the authors assert that serve-and-return interactions offer a relevant model for policy development in early childhood music education. They share contemporary evidence that music learning and development begins in the womb, continues during infancy, and needs to be prioritized in preschool and early elementary years. Next, they trace the policy landscape for early childhood education and music education in the United States since 2008. Although the landscape has remained stark, the authors offer recent glimmers of possibilities and conclude with actionable steps for improving early childhood music education policies.     

Interactions between bluefish and striped bass: Behavior of bluefish under size- and number-impaired conditions and overlap in resource use

A decline in bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix L.) recreational landings during the 1990s and the early 2000s led to multiple theories on the ultimate cause. One theory was that a large portion of the bluefish population moved offshore and was unavailable to nearshore recreational fishers; one reason given for the movement offshore was increased competition with striped bass (Morone saxatilis W.). We conducted laboratory experiments (feeding and non-feeding) to examine behavioral interactions between adult bluefish and sub-adult striped bass in a large (121,000 L) research aquarium. Additionally, we examined diet and habitat overlap of bluefish and striped bass from the fall and spring bottom trawl surveys conducted by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Observations of feeding trials for the following treatments were made: non-impaired (i.e., same number and size of bluefish and striped bass), size-impaired (i.e., large striped bass/small bluefish), number-impaired (i.e.,10 striped bass/3bluefish), and single-species controls. Within a species, there was no difference in a variety of behavioral measures (e.g., attack rate, capture success, ingestion rate, and activity) between mixed- and control treatments under non-impaired or size-impaired conditions. However, behavior of number-impaired bluefish differed from control and size-impaired fish suggesting that striped bass may have a negative influence on bluefish foraging when bluefish are “out-numbered”. Feeding had a strong effect on swimming speeds for both species. Diet and habitat overlap between bluefish and striped bass in continental shelf waters was low. Overall, foraging behavior in mixed-species treatments and field observations suggest no competitive interactions between adult bluefish and sub-adult striped bass.     

Diet overlap among ruminants in Fennoscandia

Information on overlap in resource use is central to understanding of interspecific exploitation competition and resource partitioning. Despite this, measures of diet overlap among northern ruminants in Fennoscandia is limited to one earlier study (reindeer and sheep). Diet overlap between sympatric moose and roe deer calculated with Schoener’s index was 20.7% and 33.6% during summer (data from one area) and winter (data from two areas), respectively, whereas average diet overlap between moose and red deer was 32.0% during winter (data from four areas). Diet overlap between a coastal island population of red deer and sheep was 59.3% during summer and 63.9% during winter. Summer diet overlap between a sheep and a goat population and a sheep and a reindeer population calculated with data on main types of forage plants was 77.0% and 55.1%, respectively. However, overlap calculated with main plant groups was sometimes considerably higher than when calculated for individual forage species. Neither difference in feeding type nor body mass successfully predicted diet overlap between species pairs (n=9), although there tended to be negative correlation (r _p =–0.586, P=0.098) between diet overlap of main plant groups (calculated across studies) and difference in feeding type. Received: 19 October 1999 / Accepted: 31 January 2000     

Affective responses in tamarins elicited by species-specific music

Theories of music evolution agree that human music has an affective influence on listeners. Tests of non-humans provided little evidence of preferences for human music. However, prosodic features of speech (‘motherese’) influence affective behaviour of non-verbal infants as well as domestic animals, suggesting that features of music can influence the behaviour of non-human species. We incorporated acoustical characteristics of tamarin affiliation vocalizations and tamarin threat vocalizations into corresponding pieces of music. We compared music composed for tamarins with that composed for humans. Tamarins were generally indifferent to playbacks of human music, but responded with increased arousal to tamarin threat vocalization based music, and with decreased activity and increased calm behaviour to tamarin affective vocalization based music. Affective components in human music may have evolutionary origins in the structure of calls of non-human animals. In addition, animal signals may have evolved to manage the behaviour of listeners by influencing their affective state.     

Intersections between music education and music therapy: Education reform,arts education,exceptionality, and policy at the local level

In this article, a music teacher educator and a music therapy clinician and educator discuss special education policy and arts instruction at the district level. To illustrate the gulf between federal and local policies with regard to exceptional learners and arts instruction, we examine the intersections of music therapy and music education with regard to self-contained classes of students with moderate to severe disabilities. Our discussion focuses on provision of services and opportunity to learn, and results in specific policy suggestions, including: (a) increasing administrators' understanding of music therapy, adaptive music education, and music education, so that decisions regarding arts instruction can be better-informed and more child-centered, (b) treating music therapists as allied health professionals who do not need to be certified teachers to practice in schools, and (c) improving initial music teacher preparation and providing opportunities for professional development to increase awareness of necessary information and effective strategies to improve music teaching and learning for students with special needs.     

Patterns of diet overlap between populations of non-indigenous and native fishes in shallow ponds

No significant differences in the diet composition were detected for any of the populations of four non-indigenous fish species (brown bullhead Ameiurus nebulosus , pumpkinseed Lepomis gibbosus , topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva and eastern mudminnow Umbra pygmaea ) and two native fish species (gudgeon Gobio gobio and roach Rutilus rutilus ), between two small shallow ponds and between habitats within the ponds, during late summer. Based on diet composition, groups of size classes within species ('functional groups') were distinguished. For most functional group combinations of exotic fishes, diet overlap values were low. Although chironomid larvae formed the most important food source, differential consumption of chironomid size classes allowed an important degree of niche differentiation between non-indigenous fishes. In contrast, high diet overlap was found between the functional groups of indigenous gudgeon and of several non-indigenous fishes, indicating a high potential for interspecific exploitative competition. The diet of roach consisted almost entirely of non-animal remains (detritus and plant material). The high proportion of such low-energy food in the diet of this species may be indicative for a competition induced niche shift to suboptimal food sources.     

Temporal lobe perceptual predictions for speech are instantiated in motor cortex and reconciled by inferior frontal cortex

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Food overlap between Mongolian gazelles and livestock in Omnogobi,southern Mongolia

Botanical and particle size compositions of the feces of sympatric Mongolian gazelles, sheep/goats, and horses collected in southern Mongolia in autumn 2002 were analyzed. The botanical composition of Mongolian gazelles was similar to that of sheep/goats where dicotyledonous plants (64.6% for Mongolian gazelles, 65.6% for sheep/goats), particularly woody fibers were important (39.5% for Mongolian gazelles, 19.5% for sheep/goats). In contrast, horse feces were exclusively composed of graminoids (93.2%). Consequently, food overlap was great between Mongolian gazelles and sheep/goats (Piankas index: 0.977) but was small between Mongolian gazelles and horses (0.437) and sheep/goats and horses (0.421). Particle size distributions were also similar between Mongolian gazelles and sheep/goats, whereas they were different between horses and Mongolian gazelles and horses and sheep/goats. These results support our expectation based on the Jarman-Bell principle. Although interspecific competition cannot be inferred from a mere food overlap, our analyses suggest that sheep and goats are potential competitors for Mongolian gazelles. Therefore, the increase in the numbers of domestic sheep/goats might pose a risk for Mongolian gazelle populations.     

Without it no music: cognition,biology and evolution of musicality

Musicality can be defined as a natural, spontaneously developing trait based on and constrained by biology and cognition. Music, by contrast, can be defined as a social and cultural construct based on that very musicality. One critical challenge is to delineate the constituent elements of musicality. What biological and cognitive mechanisms are essential for perceiving, appreciating and making music? Progress in understanding the evolution of music cognition depends upon adequate characterization of the constituent mechanisms of musicality and the extent to which they are present in non-human species. We argue for the importance of identifying these mechanisms and delineating their functions and developmental course, as well as suggesting effective means of studying them in human and non-human animals. It is virtually impossible to underpin the evolutionary role of musicality as a whole, but a multicomponent perspective on musicality that emphasizes its constituent capacities, development and neural cognitive specificity is an excellent starting point for a research programme aimed at illuminating the origins and evolution of musical behaviour as an autonomous trait.