Perception of acoustic sequences: global integration versus temporal resolution
Richard M. Warren · Oxford University Press eBooks · 1993
The perception of acoustic sequences has long been a topic of major interest in psychoacoustics due to the fact that speech and music consist of a succession of particular sounds occurring in specific orders. However, there is a growing body of evidence indicating that speech comprehension and music appreciation do not require their resolution into an ordered sequence of components, but rather involve global or holistic organization. This chapter discusses mechanisms based upon the global integration of items in sequences of brief sounds that can explain a number of otherwise puzzling perceptual phenomena. Listeners employ two fundamentally different mechanisms to recognize acoustic sequences and distinguish between different arrangements of their constituents. One method involves the recognition of patterns formed by component sounds. These patterns, or ‘temporal compounds’, need not be resolved into an ordered sequence of elements. The other method involves the identification of component sounds in their proper order, and requires the application of linguistic skills in naming the successive items.