Seeing a talker’s face can aid audiovisual (AV) integration when speech is presented in noise. However, few studies have simultaneously manipulated auditory and visual degradation. We aimed to ...establish how degrading the auditory and visual signal affected AV integration. Where people look on the face in this context is also of interest; Buchan, Paré and Munhall (
Brain Research
,
1242
, 162–171,
2008
) found fixations on the mouth increased in the presence of auditory noise whilst Wilson, Alsius, Paré and Munhall (
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
,
59
(4), 601–615,
2016
) found mouth fixations decreased with decreasing visual resolution. In Condition 1, participants listened to clear speech, and in Condition 2, participants listened to vocoded speech designed to simulate the information provided by a cochlear implant. Speech was presented in three levels of auditory noise and three levels of visual blurring. Adding noise to the auditory signal increased McGurk responses, while blurring the visual signal decreased McGurk responses. Participants fixated the mouth more on trials when the McGurk effect was perceived. Adding auditory noise led to people fixating the mouth more, while visual degradation led to people fixating the mouth less. Combined, the results suggest that modality preference and where people look during AV integration of incongruent syllables varies according to the quality of information available.
The possibility of HIV-1 eradication has been limited by the existence of latently infected cellular reservoirs. Studies to examine control of HIV latency and potential reactivation have been ...hindered by the small numbers of latently infected cells found in vivo. Major conceptual leaps have been facilitated by the use of latently infected T cell lines and primary cells. However, notable differences exist among cell model systems. Furthermore, screening efforts in specific cell models have identified drug candidates for "anti-latency" therapy, which often fail to reactivate HIV uniformly across different models. Therefore, the activity of a given drug candidate, demonstrated in a particular cellular model, cannot reliably predict its activity in other cell model systems or in infected patient cells, tested ex vivo. This situation represents a critical knowledge gap that adversely affects our ability to identify promising treatment compounds and hinders the advancement of drug testing into relevant animal models and clinical trials. To begin to understand the biological characteristics that are inherent to each HIV-1 latency model, we compared the response properties of five primary T cell models, four J-Lat cell models and those obtained with a viral outgrowth assay using patient-derived infected cells. A panel of thirteen stimuli that are known to reactivate HIV by defined mechanisms of action was selected and tested in parallel in all models. Our results indicate that no single in vitro cell model alone is able to capture accurately the ex vivo response characteristics of latently infected T cells from patients. Most cell models demonstrated that sensitivity to HIV reactivation was skewed toward or against specific drug classes. Protein kinase C agonists and PHA reactivated latent HIV uniformly across models, although drugs in most other classes did not.
Across development, vision increasingly influences audio-visual perception. This is evidenced in illusions such as the McGurk effect, in which a seen mouth movement changes the perceived sound. The ...current paper assessed the effects of manipulating the clarity of the heard and seen signal upon the McGurk effect in children aged 3-6 (n = 29), 7-9 (n = 32) and 10-12 (n = 29) years, and adults aged 20-35 years (n = 32). Auditory noise increased, and visual blur decreased, the likelihood of vision changing auditory perception. Based upon a proposed developmental shift from auditory to visual dominance we predicted that younger children would be less susceptible to McGurk responses, and that adults would continue to be influenced by vision in higher levels of visual noise and with less auditory noise. Susceptibility to the McGurk effect was higher in adults compared with 3-6-year-olds and 7-9-year-olds but not 10-12-year-olds. Younger children required more auditory noise, and less visual noise, than adults to induce McGurk responses (i.e. adults and older children were more easily influenced by vision). Reduced susceptibility in childhood supports the theory that sensory dominance shifts across development and reaches adult-like levels by 10 years of age.
Research investigating whether faces and voices share common source identity information has offered contradictory results. Accurate face–voice matching is consistently above chance when the facial ...stimuli are dynamic, but not when the facial stimuli are static. We tested whether procedural differences might help to account for the previous inconsistencies. In Experiment
1
, participants completed a sequential two-alternative forced choice matching task. They either heard a voice and then saw two faces or saw a face and then heard two voices. Face–voice matching was above chance when the facial stimuli were dynamic and articulating, but not when they were static. In Experiment
2
, we tested whether matching was more accurate when faces and voices were presented simultaneously. The participants saw two face–voice combinations, presented one after the other. They had to decide which combination was the same identity. As in Experiment
1
, only dynamic face–voice matching was above chance. In Experiment
3
, participants heard a voice and then saw two static faces presented simultaneously. With this procedure, static face–voice matching was above chance. The overall results, analyzed using multilevel modeling, showed that voices and dynamic articulating faces, as well as voices and static faces, share concordant source identity information. It seems, therefore, that above-chance static face–voice matching is sensitive to the experimental procedure employed. In addition, the inconsistencies in previous research might depend on the specific stimulus sets used; our multilevel modeling analyses show that some people look and sound more similar than others.
Abstract Objective To evaluate the utility of an endometrial sampling protocol for the diagnosis of pregnancies of unknown location following in vitro fertilization. Study Design A retrospective ...cohort study of 14,505 autologous fresh and frozen in vitro fertilization cycles from 10/2007 to 9/2015 was performed; 110 patients were diagnosed with pregnancy of unknown location, defined as a positive human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) without ultrasound evidence of intrauterine or ectopic pregnancy, and an abnormal hCG trend (<53% rise or <15% fall in two days). These patients underwent outpatient endometrial sampling with Karman cannula aspiration. Patients with hCG decline ≥15% within 24 hours of sampling and/or villi detected on pathologic analysis were diagnosed with failing intrauterine pregnancy and had weekly hCG measurements thereafter. Those with hCG declines <15% and no villi identified were diagnosed with ectopic pregnancy and treated with intramuscular methotrexate (50 mg/m2) or laparoscopy. Results Across 8 years of follow-up, among women with pregnancy of unknown location, failed intrauterine pregnancy was diagnosed in 46 patients (42%) and ectopic pregnancy in 64 patients (58%). Clinical variables including fresh or frozen embryo transfer, day of embryo transfer, serum hCG at the time of sampling, endometrial thickness, and presence of an adnexal mass were not significantly different between patients with failed intrauterine pregnancy or ectopic pregnancy. In patients with failed intrauterine pregnancy, 100% demonstrated adequate post-sampling hCG declines, while villi were identified in just 46% (n=21). Patients with failed intrauterine pregnancy had significantly shorter time to resolution (negative serum hCG) after sampling compared to patients with ectopic pregnancy (12.6 vs 26.3 days, p-value<0.001). Conclusion Using this safe and effective protocol of endometrial aspiration with Karman cannula, a large proportion of women with pregnancy of unknown location are spared methotrexate, with a shorter time to pregnancy resolution than those receiving methotrexate.
Voice identification parades can be unreliable, as earwitness responses are error-prone. In this paper we tested performance across serial and sequential procedures, and varied pre-parade ...instructions, with the aim of reducing errors. The participants heard a target voice and later attempted to identify it from a parade. In Experiment 1 they were either warned that the target may or may not be present (standard warning) or encouraged to consider responding "not present" because of the associated risk of a wrongful conviction (strong warning). Strong warnings prompted a conservative criterion shift, with participants less likely to make a positive identification regardless of whether the target was present. In contrast to previous findings, we found no statistically reliable difference in accuracy between serial and sequential parades. Experiment 2 ruled out a potential confound in Experiment 1. Taken together, our results suggest that adapting pre-parade instructions provides a simple way of reducing the risk of false identifications.
Unfamiliar voice identification is error-prone. Whilst the investigation of system variables may indicate ways of boosting earwitness performance, this is an under-researched area. Two experiments ...were conducted to investigate how methods of presenting voices during a parade affect accuracy and self-rated confidence. In each experiment participants listened to a target voice, and were later asked to identify that voice from a nine-person target present or target absent parade. In Experiment 1, accuracy did not vary across parades comprising 15 or 30 s sample durations. Overall, when the target was present, participants correctly identified the target voice with 39% accuracy. However, when the target was absent, participants correctly rejected the parade 6% of the time. There was no relationship between accuracy and confidence. In Experiment 2, performance with a serial procedure, in which participants responded after hearing all nine voices, was compared with a sequential procedure, in which participants made a decision after listening to each voice. Overall accuracy was higher with the sequential procedure. These results highlight the importance of system variable research in voice identification. Different methods of presenting voices have the potential to support higher levels of accuracy than the procedure currently recommended in England and Wales.
The objectives of this study were to identify variables that are associated with differences in outcome among hearing-impaired children and to control those variables while assessing the impact of ...cochlear implantation.
In a cross-sectional study, the parents and teachers of a representative sample of hearing-impaired children were invited to complete questionnaires about children's auditory performance, spoken communication skills, educational achievements, and quality of life. Multiple regression was used to measure the strength of association between these outcomes and variables related to the child (average hearing level, age at onset of hearing impairment, age, gender, number of additional disabilities), the family (parental occupational skill level, ethnicity, and parental hearing status), and cochlear implantation.
Questionnaires were returned by the parents of 2858 children, 468 of whom had received a cochlear implant, and by the teachers of 2241 children, 383 of whom had received an implant. Across all domains, reported outcomes were better for children with fewer disabilities in addition to impaired hearing. Across most domains, reported outcomes were better for children who were older, female, with a more favorable average hearing level, with a higher parental occupational skill level, and with an onset of hearing-impairment after 3 years. When these variables were controlled, cochlear implantation was consistently associated with advantages in auditory performance and spoken communication skills, but less consistently associated with advantages in educational achievements and quality of life. Significant associations were found most commonly for children who were younger than 5 years when implanted, and had used implants for more than 4 years. These children, whose mean (preoperative, unaided) average hearing level was 118 dB, were reported to perform at the same level as nonimplanted children with average hearing levels in the range from 80 dB to 104 dB, depending on the outcome measure.
When rigorous statistical control is exercised in comparing implanted and nonimplanted children, pediatric cochlear implantation is associated with reported improvements both in spoken communication skills and in some aspects of educational achievements and quality of life, provided that children receive implants before 5 years of age.
Summary
In forensic settings, lay (nonexpert) listeners may be required to compare voice samples for identity. In two experiments we investigated the effect of background noise and variations in ...speaking style on performance. In each trial, participants heard two recordings, responded whether the voices belonged to the same person, and provided a confidence rating. In Experiment 1, the first recording featured read speech and the second featured read or spontaneous speech. Both recordings were presented in quiet, or with background noise. Accuracy was highest when recordings featured the same speaking style. In Experiment 2, background noise either occurred in the first or second recording. Accuracy was higher when it occurred in the second. The overall results reveal that both speaking style and background noise can disrupt accuracy. Although there is a relationship between confidence and accuracy in all conditions, it is variable. The forensic implications of these findings are discussed.
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