Re: streams and groups

[Bruno Repp <repp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sigurd Saue's four time scales,

> 1. Sub-unit (the temporal variations that we perceive as timbre).
> 2. Unit (temporal variations within a stream)
> 3. Group (temporal variations between streams)
> 4. Global (the totality of temporal events, not perceived as variation)
seem to map fairly well into:

1. perceptual system (pitch, timbre, localization, etc.)
2. short-term memory
3. long-term memory
4. conceptual system (abstract knowledge)

Thus they seem consistent with psychological research in a general
way. But note that level 3 does not require different streams. When
two groups of events are separated in time, it is unclear whether or
not they represent different streams. The concept of streaming is
specifically designed to explain the segregation of temporally
overlapping series of events. Only simultaneous songs by two birds
can give rise to two perceptual streams; one or two birds singing in
succession cannot, or only in a more abstract, less directly
perceptual sense of the term.

--Bruno

Bruno H. Repp
Research Scientist
Haskins Laboratories
270 Crown Street
New Haven, CT 06511-6695
Tel. (203) 865-6163, ext. 236
FAX (203) 865-8963
e-mail: repp@haskins.yale.edu