AUDIO BLOCKS WEEK RIAL SERIES

We ask whether naïve listeners can become sensitized to sparsely reoccurring tone sequences and investigate the conditions under which such memories are formed. Here, we focus on long-term memory formation for arbitrary frequency patterns within rapidly unfolding sequences of discrete sounds. A compelling instance was demonstrated by Agus et al., 2010 (see also Agus and Pressnitzer, 2013 Kang et al., 2017 who showed that naive listeners readily remembered certain spectro-temporal features of random noise bursts, such that reoccurring snippets were recognized weeks after initial exposure. Cowan, 1998) argued that such sensory traces are characterized by short retention times and computational encapsulation, a large body of work has since revealed that observers can retain detailed sensory information implicitly, over long periods ( Arciuli and Simpson, 2012 Chun, 2000 Jiang et al., 2005 Kim et al., 2009 Vogt and Magnussen, 2007 Winkler and Cowan, 2005). Whilst traditional models of sensory memory (e.g. In the auditory modality, the ability to identify essentially any sound source, from footsteps to musical melody, requires the capacity to hold consecutive events in memory so as to link past and incoming information into a coherent emerging representation ( Koelsch et al., 2019 McDermott et al., 2013 Winkler et al., 2009). Memory is a crucial component of sensory perception, on multiple processing levels ( Bale et al., 2017 Muckli and Petro, 2017). More studies are needed to understand what exactly happens in the brain as these memories of sound patterns are created, and whether this also happens for other senses and in other species. These findings provide new insights into how humans discover and recognize sound patterns which could help treat diseases associated with impaired memory and hearing.

This suggests that as well as remembering meaningful sounds, like the melody of a song, people can also unknowingly memorize the complex pattern of arbitrary sounds, including ones they rarely encounter. The volunteers did not recognize these retained patterns in other tests suggesting they were unaware of these memories. found that participants became progressively faster at recognizing a repeated pattern each time it reoccurred, gradually forming an enduring memory which lasted at least seven weeks after the initial training. Most of the patterns were new but some reoccurred every three minutes or so unbeknownst to the listener.īianco et al. Participants were asked to press a button as soon as they detected a repeating pattern.

AUDIO BLOCKS WEEK RIAL SERIES

conducted a series of experiments where human volunteers listened to rapid sequences of 20 random tones interspersed with repeated patterns. However, it remained unclear whether sounds that reoccur sporadically can stick in our memory, and under what conditions this happens. Memory traces left by each sound are crucial for discovering new patterns and recognizing patterns we have previously encountered. This ability is necessary in many situations: from discriminating between random noises in the woods to understanding language and appreciating music. To recognize these patterns, our memory must hold each part of the sound sequence long enough to perceive how they fit together.

Patterns of sound – such as the noise of footsteps approaching or a person speaking – often provide valuable information. The results implicate an interplay between short (a few seconds) and long-term (over many minutes) integration in memory formation and demonstrate the remarkable sensitivity of the human auditory system to sporadically reoccurring structure within the acoustic environment.

This effect was implicit, robust to interference, and persisted for 7 weeks. Despite this, reoccurring patterns were associated with a rapidly growing detection-time advantage over novel patterns. All sequences consisted of the same 20 frequencies and were distinguishable only by the order of tone-pips. Unbeknownst to them, a few patterns reoccurred every ~3 min. In a series of experiments, participants detected the emergence of regularly repeating patterns within rapid tone-pip sequences. We combined behavioural manipulation and modelling to investigate the dynamics of memory formation for rarely reoccurring acoustic patterns. Memory, on multiple timescales, is critical to our ability to discover the structure of our surroundings, and efficiently interact with the environment.

Audio blocks week rial