Recognition of Complex Auditory-Spatial Patterns

Abstract

Two experiments were carried out to investigate the perception of complex auditory-spatial patterns. Subjects were asked to identify alphanumeric characters whose patterns could be outlined acoustically through the sequential activation of specific units in a speaker array. Signal bandwidths were varied systematically in both experiments. Signals in experiment 1 had sharp onsets and offsets; envelope shapes in experiment 2 were much more gradual. Subjects showed considerable ability in recognizing alphanumeric patterns traced with signals of varying acoustical composition. Reductions in the steepness of signal attack and decay produced limited declines in pattern recognition ability. Systematic trends in the relation between patterns and the distribution of incorrect responses suggest that subjects performed a pattern-matching task, in which identifications were made on the basis of component features. The unexpected pattern recognition abilities that subjects demonstrated in both experiments suggest that spatial hearing, like vision, has access to mechanisms for amodal spatial representations.