Subject: Re: perceptual segregation of sound From: DeLiang Wang <dwang@xxxxxxxx> Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 16:38:41 -0400This is a very interesting question. According to a comprehensive target article by N. Cowan in BBS, the perceptual system can attend to about 4 things at the same time (i.e. the attentional capacity is about 4). This is a complex question partly because there are different time scales at work. Even if one accepts the assertion that we can attend to more than one thing at a time perceptually, it is still possible to switch back and forth physiologically (i.e. the psychological moment has a larger time scale than the physiological moment). My recent article discusses this and related issues. - N. Cowan: "The magical number 4 in short-term memory", Behavioral and Brain Sciences, vol. 24, pp. 87-185, 2001 - D.L. Wang: "The time dimension for scene analysis", IEEE Trans. Neural Networks, vol. 16, pp. 1401-1426, 2005 (available on my website). Cheers, DeLiang Mark Every wrote: >Dear all, > >I have a question of general interest about auditory scene analysis, and >would be grateful for any views on the subject. > >Humans have the remarkable ability to interpret multiple events and >perceive distinct sources within a complex sound environment. The >concept of perceptual streams of information is explained in (Bregman >A.S., Auditory Scene Analysis: The Perceptual Organization of Sound, MIT >Press, 1990). My question is: are we really capable of perceptually >segregating multiple sources concurrently, or are we just focusing our >attention on one source, and then shifting it very quickly to another >source? Evolutionarily speaking, I can see it would be advantageous if >we were being chased by two lions rather than one, to be able to >concentrate on both simultaneously. However, I also have the impression >that if lion 1 roars, we will forget about lion 2 for a moment, and vice >versa. If both roar at the same time, are we now listening to two >separate lions or just a general sound of lions roaring? >In any case, run for it... > >Best, >Mark > > > -- ------------------------------------------------------------ Prof. DeLiang Wang Department of Computer Science and Engineering The Ohio State University 2015 Neil Ave. Columbus, OH 43210-1277, U.S.A. Phone: 614-292-6827 (OFFICE); 614-292-7402 (LAB) Fax: 614-292-2911 URL: http://www.cse.ohio-state.edu/~dwang