How does the perceptual system identify which sights and sounds should be integrated? Although traditional explanations focus primarily on coincidence in space and time, evidence is now emerging for the role of context/congruency. Yet previous research suggests this role is confined to speech (Vatakis & Spence, 2008).
Lorraine Chuen provided novel evidence that this process is also invoked when hearing musical sounds using videos pairing cello and marimba notes with either matched (i.e., cello/cello) or mismatched (i.e., cello/marimba) gestures. By documenting the importance of amplitude envelope in evoking the “unity assumption” in non-speech sounds, she provided an intriguing expansion of the lab’s contributions to our understanding of this important acoustic property. This is now available from our publications page.