Auditory illusion lab

Introduction

Auditory perception research depends on the development of sound stimuli that allow us to probe the principles and mechanisms underlying human hearing. We often use these stimuli in psychophysics experiments (e.g., 2AFC, threshold estimation) to make careful perceptual measurements. However, sometimes these probes are so effective that those putative principles can be pointed out in the perceiver's immediate experience. We've heard many examples of these demonstrations, or "illusions", in class.

In this practical, you will create a new illusion that is inspired by existing research and that answers a new question. For the first illusion lab, we will focus on the perceptual organization of sound, called auditory scene analysis.

You cannot use late days for this lab because there is a sharing component for the final portion.



Intended learning objectives

1. Identify perceptual principles underlying visual illusions
2. Design an image to test a scientific question about perception
3. Evaluate your subjective experience for evidence of perceptual mechanisms at work