The long-term objective of this program is to understand the temporal structuring of speech and manual gestures. A major hypothesis in the present research program is that such an understanding requires a consideration of the dynamics that underlie the spatiotemporal patterning of activity across the task-relevant elements of a speaker's or performer's behavioral repertoire.
Our specific aims are to investigate these dynamics, both empirically and theoretically, by focusing on three major temporal phenomena in both speech production and in the production of simple patterns of finger tapping """"""""gestures."""""""" Knowledge gained from each of these areas will have specific implications for further developments of our task-dynamic model of speech production and its generalization to nonspeech behaviors. The first phenomenon is that local variations in the duration of single elements in a spoken utterance or manual sequence, induced through specification of the element's intrinsic duration or emphatic stress, have systematic but poorly understood effects on the overall global duration of the sequence. Understanding these effects will provide constraints for modeling interactions between central """"""""clock-like"""""""" processes and peripheral """"""""motoric"""""""" events. The second phenomenon is the decrease in pattern stability that occurs during the production of """"""""tongue twisters"""""""" and comparably difficult manual patterns. Of particular interest is the way that instability develops over time. Understanding this effect will provide constraints for modeling the interactions (coupling functions) among simultaneously active gestural units. The third phenomenon is the systematic """"""""signature"""""""" of high level structure (hierarchical prosodic structure in speech; hierarchical rhythmic structure in unimanual tapping) on the kinematics of speech and the kinematics and kinetics of manual activity. Understanding this effect will provide constraints for modeling the means by which high level structure expressively modulates ongoing movements, and how this high level structure is embodied in central clocks or timekeepers. Overall, the research program will provide valuable data and theoretical understanding of the manner in which human skilled activities are structured in time and, hence, will provide valuable clues to movement disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, in which compromised control in the temporal domain is central to the disorder's presentation.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DC003663-07
Application #
6689980
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BBBP-7 (01))
Program Officer
Shekim, Lana O
Project Start
1997-07-01
Project End
2005-12-31
Budget Start
2004-01-01
Budget End
2005-12-31
Support Year
7
Fiscal Year
2004
Total Cost
$277,103
Indirect Cost
Name
Boston University
Department
Physical Medicine & Rehab
Type
Schools of Allied Health Profes
DUNS #
049435266
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02215
Lahav, Amir; Katz, Tal; Chess, Roxanne et al. (2013) Improved motor sequence retention by motionless listening. Psychol Res 77:310-9
Repp, Bruno H (2008) Multiple temporal references in sensorimotor synchronization with metrical auditory sequences. Psychol Res 72:79-98
Keller, Peter E; Repp, Bruno H (2008) Multilevel coordination stability: integrated goal representations in simultaneous intra-personal and inter-agent coordination. Acta Psychol (Amst) 128:378-86
Repp, Bruno H (2007) Perceiving the numerosity of rapidly occurring auditory events in metrical and nonmetrical contexts. Percept Psychophys 69:529-43
Repp, Bruno H; Knoblich, Gunther (2007) Toward a psychophysics of agency: detecting gain and loss of control over auditory action effects. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 33:469-82
Repp, Bruno H (2007) Hearing a melody in different ways: multistability of metrical interpretation, reflected in rate limits of sensorimotor synchronization. Cognition 102:434-54
Repp, Bruno H (2006) Does an auditory distractor sequence affect self-paced tapping? Acta Psychol (Amst) 121:81-107
Repp, Bruno H (2006) Does an auditory perceptual illusion affect on-line auditory action control? The case of (de)accentuation and synchronization. Exp Brain Res 168:493-504
Keller, Peter E; Repp, Bruno H (2005) Staying offbeat: sensorimotor syncopation with structured and unstructured auditory sequences. Psychol Res 69:292-309
Repp, Bruno H (2005) Sensorimotor synchronization: a review of the tapping literature. Psychon Bull Rev 12:969-92

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