Among his other scholarly endeavors in the month of November, Dr. Hubbard will be presenting the following:

Nov 2, 2021 Invited (zoom) seminar: “Momentum-Like Effects in Visual Art and Music” to the SAMBA (Science of Art, Music, and Brain Activity) group at Arizona State University. 

Abstract:

Potential roles of dynamic effects in the mental representation of visual art and music are considered. Experimental evidence that suggests mental representation incorporates effects of environmentally invariant dynamics such as momentum (i.e., representational momentum) and gravity (i.e., representational gravity) are reviewed. How such dynamics might influence perception of visual art such as sculptures and paintings is discussed, and it is suggested that aesthetic responses might reflect a mismatch between previously perceived information that has been distorted by the implied dynamics and the currently perceived information. The possibility of movement and momentum in music is also considered. A previous proposal regarding the possibility of musical forces is noted, and evidence for a type of musical momentum is addressed. Effects of a dynamic of musical momentum on several phenomena (e.g., expectancy in music cognition, auditory streaming and grouping, scale illusion, auditory kappa and tau effects) are considered. In general, it is suggested that dynamic effects in mental representation can contribute to aesthetic effects in visual art and music. 

Nov 4, 2021 Coordinate, provide introductory welcome, and present at the (virtual) meeting of Auditory Perception, Cognition, and Action Meeting (APCAM). Presentation title “Psychophysics: Higher-Order and Medial Psychophysics: A New Typology” at the Psychonomic Society 2021 Annual Meeting November 4-7, 2021. 

Abstract

A typology involving suggested higher orders of psychophysics and a new domain of medial psychophysics are proposed. First-, second-, and third-order psychophysics involve relationships of subjective experiences or brain states to perceived, remembered, and imputed physical properties, respectively, of a stimulus. Fourth-order psychophysics involves relationships of subjective experiences or brain states to agentive properties of a stimulus. Characteristics and examples of each order are provided. Medial psychophysics involves relationships between properties of a stimulus and brain states. It is suggested that such a typology can provide a structure for bringing a range of phenomena previously viewed as unrelated into a common theoretical framework and can extend the range of possible application of psychophysical principles, theories, and techniques.

Nov 7, 2021 Session Chair: “Perception and Action” and Session Presenter: “Spatial Localization in Auditory Verbal Imagery” at the (virtual) Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society.  Co-presented with Susan E. Ruppel, Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina Upstate.

Abstract:

Whether auditory imagery of spoken messages was spontaneously localized to the left ear or the right ear was measured. Building on work of Prete and colleagues, participants imaged a person spoke into their ear or that they spoke into an imaged person’s ear. Valence of the message and sex of the imaged person varied. Participants were more likely to exhibit a right ear preference (i.e., the message was more likely to be imaged at the right ear) for good news, and there was a trend for a left ear preference for bad news; this pattern occurred regardless of whether (a) the imaged person was stationary and spoke into one ear, (b) the imaged person approached the participant and then spoke into one ear, or (c) the participant approached the imaged person and then spoke into one ear. Control conditions involving the imaged sound of a flute (high pitch) and tuba (low pitch) were included and exhibited a right ear preference. Measures of auditory imagery vividness and clarity, handedness, and preferred telephone ear did not correlate with ear preferences. Implications for cerebral lateralization in processing language, emotion, and auditory frequency, and for the inner voice/inner ear distinction in auditory imagery, are considered. 

Nov 19, 2021 “Predicting the Present: Representational Momentum in Perception, Art, and Music” at the Perceptual and Cognitive Neuroscience group at the University of Central Lancashire, United Kingdom.

Abstract:

The perceived location of a stimulus is often displaced away from the actual location and in the direction of anticipated motion, and this has been referred to as representational momentum. Examples of typical methodologies and results from studies of representational momentum are given, and accounts of representational momentum involving second-order isomorphism and compensation for delays in real-time perception based on neural processing times are suggested. Experiments that examine potential boundary conditions of representational momentum (involving feedback, prior probabilities, explicit instruction) are briefly described, and these suggest representational momentum involves both cognitively penetrable and cognitively impenetrable components. Potential applications of representational momentum to aesthetics in visual art (e.g., sculpture, painting) and music cognition (e.g., expectancy, auditory streaming, scale illusion) are proposed.

In addition, Dr. Hubbard serves on several editorial boards as well as serves as peer review boards for several journals. Most notably Associate Editor at Auditory Perception & Cognition and Frontiers in Psychology (cognition section), and Consulting Editor at Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics; Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance; and Imagination, Cognition, and Personality.