Ecological Acoustics

Although hearing is classically considered a temporal sense, everyday listening suggests that subtle spatial pr operties constitute an important part of what we know about our world through sound. Ecological acoustics research at CESPA is currently concerned with accuracy in the perception of a sound source, not in terms of identifying the event (e.g., rustling lea ves, oncoming cars, breaking glass), but with assessing a metrical property of the object itself (e.g., size, shape, material composition). Humans perceive sources and source properties that have consequences for behavior. Therefore, identifying objects' physical properties which constrain perception is deemed important, and is the goal of this line of research. Typical experimental questions are:

* What makes a sound locatable vs. non-locatable?
* What physical properties of an object indicate to a listener its size and/or shape?
* What should an ecological perspective on echolocation entail?

Faculty: Claudia Carello, Carol Fowler, Michael Turvey

Representative Publications

Collins, D., & Turvey, M. T. (1999). Dynamical stability analyses of coordination patterns. In U. Windhorst & W. Johansson, H. (Eds.), Modern techniques in neuroscience r esearch. Berlin: Springer Verlag.

Collins, D., Park, H., & Turvey, M. T. (1998). Relative coordination reconsidered: A stochastic account. Motor Control, 2, 228-240.

Mitra, S., Amazeen, P. G., & Turvey, M. T. (1998). Intermediate motor learning as decreasing active (dynamical) degrees of freedom. Human Movement Science, 17, 17-65.

Turvey, M. T., & Carello, C. (1996). Dynamics of Bernstein's level of synergies. In M. Latash. & M. T. Turvey (Eds.), Dexterity and its development (pp. 339-376). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Turvey, M. T. (1998). Dynamics of effortful touch and interlimb coordination. Journal of Biomechanics, 31, 873-882.