Organizing complex perceptual input in real time is crucial for our ability to interact with the world around us, and information received in the auditory modality in particular is central to many fundamental aspects of human behavior (e.g., spoken language, music, sound localization). Classic views of perception hold that we absorb environmental information from our senses and translate these inputs into signals that the brain organizes, identifies, and interprets in a bottom-up fashion. However, there is a long-standing debate in cognitive science as to the degree to which top-down effects from higher-level processes such as emotions, actions, motivation, intentions, and linguistic representations directly influence perceptual processing (e.g., Firestone & Scholl, 2016, and subsequent commentaries in Behavioral & Brain Sciences).
Our research supports this more flexible definition of perception, focusing on the importance of interactions, including the interaction of bottom-up and top-down processing and interactions within and across modalities. To this end, we take an interdisciplinary approach to understanding auditory perception. Our research program encompasses music, speech, and cross-modal perception using a combination of behavioral, cognitive neuroscience, and computational modeling approaches. This work speaks to a broad set of issues within psychological science: To what extent are cognitive processes encapsulated from one another? How is perception influenced by individual and cross-cultural differences, previous knowledge, expertise, and task demands?
Lab photos courtesy of Xavier Bailey Photography, 2023
Audiovisual interactions in speech perception
Speech perception in Spanish-English bilinguals
Top-down and context effects on speech perception
Competition between audiovisual correspondences
Music and memory interactions
Auditory Perception, Cognition and Action Meeting
NYC, November 2024
Lauren O'Donnell and Izzie Ramirez
APCAM 2024
Kayla Phan
APCAM 2024
Gabby Thomas
APCAM 2024
Western Psychological Association Conference
San Francisco, CA
April 2024
Western Psychological Association Conference
Riverside, CA
April 2023
Sam Eason, Grace Masino, & Helen Skeeland
WPA 2023
Alex Griffin, Sarah Mann, & Izzie Ramirez
WPA 2023
Alex Griffin, Sarah Mann, & Izzie Ramirez
Creative Collaborations 2023
Ellis Noteboom, Camille Torre, & Gabby Thomas
Creative Collaborations 2023
Sam Eason, Grace Masino, & Helen Skeeland
Creative Collaborations 2023
Western Psychological Association Conference
Portland, OR April 2022
Michelle Nugyen
WPA 2022
Rhiannon Novelli
WPA 2022
Ted Zelenskyy
WPA 2022
Alexa Andrade
Creative Collaborations 2022
Lucy Edwards
Creative Collaborations 2022
Michelle Nguyen
Creative Collaborations 2022
Rhiannon Novelli
Creative Collaborations 2022
Makena Spencer, Sam Eason, & Victoria Nguyen
Creative Collaborations 2022
Connor Warman
Creative Collaborations 2022
Tran, J. & Getz, L. (2023). Attention Required for Advertisement Pitch, Tempo, and Timbre to Influence the Perception of Product Features. Music Perception.
Getz, L. (2023). Competition between audiovisual correspondences aids understanding of relationship between auditory and visual perception. Frontiers in Cognition.
Morett, L., Feiler, & J. & Getz, L. (2022). Elucidating the influences of embodiment and conceptual metaphor on lexical and non-speech tone learning. Cognition.
Getz, L., Barton, S. & Perry, L. (2021). Context-specific knowledge is the key to salsa music. Auditory Perception & Cognition.
Getz, L. & Toscano, J. (2021). Rethinking the McGurk effect as a perceptual illusion. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics.
Getz, L. & Toscano, J. (2020; invited review). The time-course of speech perception revealed by real-time neural measures. WIREs Cognitive Science.
Getz, L. & Toscano, J. (2019). Electrophysiological evidence for top-down lexical influences on early speech perception. Psychological Science.