23.1287, Disc: The Event We Call Perception

Wed Mar 14 14:29:44 UTC 2012

LINGUIST List: Vol-23-1287. Wed Mar 14 2012. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 23.1287, Disc: The Event We Call Perception

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Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:29:12
From: Stefan Andersson [nemo661 at yahoo.se]
Subject: The Event We Call Perception

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My attempts to understand the event we call perception started off 
several years ago and this is what I now ask myself: 

1.) What can we learn from people who hear their own thoughts as 
alien voices and in response to non-verbal environmental sounds are 
able to generate the perception of an external voice ''that retain certain 
acoustic features that were present in the original signal'' ? 

2.) Are we only able to use covert speech and generate the perception 
of an external voice ''that retain certain acoustic features that were 
present in the original signal'' in response to non-verbal environmental 
sounds ? 

3.) Are people able to hear the sensory consequence of covert speech 
in integration with what they were able to select with a corresponding 
top-down sensory expectation ? 

4.) Can the gestures you are about to produce during covert speech 
when you are able to hear the sensory consequence of covert speech 
like the gestures you intend to produce during overt speech determine 
what you expect to hear and can a top-down sensory expectation like 
this be used to select all features matching the sensory consequence 
you are about to produce ? 

5.) Why do people lose the ability to generate an act of will with which 
they are able to consciously control covert speech ? 

6.) Do people lose the ability to control covert speech and hear their 
own thoughts as alien voices because they are forced to divide their 
attention between two similar tasks ? 

7.) Will not what you are able to select, when you are trying to hear the 
voice you are about to produce, automatically correspond to some 
features matching the sensory consequence you are about to produce 
and can not the attention you devote to a competing task due to a 
similarity more effectively suppress the ability control how you respond 
? 

8.) Can two in some way similar tasks compete with each other more 
than two different tasks because the available attention capacity is set 
(limited) as if you were to perform only one task ? 

9.) Why am I the only one who uses a well known experience many 
people share in an attempt to make it easier to understand the lack of 
voluntary control ? 

10.) Can the lost ability to generate an act of will with which you are 
able to consciously control covert speech with regards to a certain goal 
be as essential to our ability to restore and better distinguish a verbal 
message as it can be devastating to people with an integration disorder 
referred to as schizophrenia ? 

11.) Can what you are able to attend when you are trying to hear the 
voice you are about to produce more or less suppress the ability to 
control covert speech and do people who more or less lose the ability 
to control covert speech more or less lose the ability to inhibit a verbal 
response ? 

12.) Can what you are able to attend when you are trying to hear the 
voice you are about to produce be more demanding when you get a 
better match between a corresponding top-down sensory expectation 
and bottom-up sensory signals ? 

13.) Is it harder to inhibit a verbal response when you get a better 
match between a corresponding top-down sensory expectation and 
bottom-up sensory signals and will this result in a tendency to produce 
the most equivalent sensory consequence you are able to produce ? 

14.) Can bottom-up sensory signals affect the outcome of competition 
between response tendencies and will this result in a tendency to 
produce the most equivalent sensory consequence you are able to 
produce ? 

15.) Are you able to integrate all features matching the sensory 
consequence you are about to produce when bottom-up sensory 
signals affect the outcome of competition between response 
tendencies and will this generate the informative event we call 
perception in response to a more or less distorted verbal message ? 

16.) Can the lost ability to inhibit a verbal response serve the purpose 
of not letting an act of will interfere with the ability to select the gestures 
you need to use in response to a verbal message and will the lost 
ability to choose how you respond result in that you find it much harder 
to disregard the context you are exposed to and experience ? 

17.) Can covert speech with its sensory consequence heard in 
integration with all features matching a corresponding top-down 
sensory expectation, thanks to a tendency to produce a rather 
equivalent sensory consequence, be used to distinguish a verbal 
message while a sensitivity to the context you are exposed to and 
experience makes it possible to restore a more or less distorted verbal 
message ? 

18.) Are stimuli to which you make the same response categorized 
when you hear the sensory consequence of a specific gesture in 
integration with all features matching a corresponding top-down 
sensory expectation (what you are able to hear more subjectively will in 
response to different stimuli sound alike) and can a sensitivity to the 
context you are exposed to and experience make it possible to 
categorize (and learn how to categorize) what you are able to 
distinguish in response to acoustically highly variable speech sounds ? 

19.) Are people able to restore and better distinguish a verbal message 
when they lack the ability to inhibit a verbal response and with a short 
delay hear the sensory consequence of covert speech in integration 
with what they were able to select with a corresponding top-down 
sensory expectation ? 

20.) Was Alvin M. Liberman more than 50 years ago correct in his 
assumption that "the articulatory movements and their sensory effects 
mediate between the acoustic stimulus and the event we call 
perception" ? 

21.) Are you able to reveal a verbal illusion when you expect to hear 
the sensory consequence you are about to produce and all features 
matching what you expect to hear can be taken out of their peripheral 
existence without generating a match between a top-down sensory 
expectation and bottom-up sensory signals ? 

22.) Will the ability to reveal a verbal illusion (a mismatch) result in that 
you lack the motivation to execute and are able to inhibit a verbal 
response ? 

23.) Are you able to integrate all features matching the sensory 
consequence you are about to produce when bottom-up sensory 
signals affect the outcome of competition between response 
tendencies and will this generate the informative event we call 
perception in response to auditory, visual, somatosensory, olfactory, 
and gustatory stimuli ?

Stefan Andersson

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science

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