Birdsong is a complex learned vocal behavior that relies on auditory experience for development. However, it appears that among different species of close-ended songbirds, there are some variations in the necessity of...Birdsong is a complex learned vocal behavior that relies on auditory experience for development. However, it appears that among different species of close-ended songbirds, there are some variations in the necessity of auditory feedback for maintaining stereotyped adult song. In zebra finches, the deterioration of adult songs following deafness depends on the birds＇ age. It is unknown whether this age effect is a general rule in other avian species as well. Therefore, we chose Bengalese finches, whose songs show more complexity and have much heavier dependency on auditory feedback than that of zebra finches, to compare the degree of song degradation after hearing loss in old （over 18 months old） and young adult birds （5 - 6 months old）. We found that both syllable sequence and syllable phonology were much less severely affected by deafening in old adults than that in young ones. Moreover, young adults almost lost their capability to sing trills over 6 months following deafening, while old birds continued to sing plenty of trills and trilled syllables after the same period of deafening. Our results suggest that age plays an important role in affecting the dependency of adult song maintenance on auditory feedback in Bengalese finches. Furthermore, the age dependency may be a general phenomenon in different species of close-ended songbirds [ Current Zoology 55 （3）： 212 - 218, 2009].展开更多
Large displays have become ubiquitous in our everyday lives, but these displays are designed for sighted people.This paper addresses the need for visually impaired people to access targets on large wall-mounted displa...Large displays have become ubiquitous in our everyday lives, but these displays are designed for sighted people.This paper addresses the need for visually impaired people to access targets on large wall-mounted displays. We developed an assistive interface which exploits mid-air gesture input and haptic feedback, and examined its potential for pointing and steering tasks in human computer interaction（HCI）. In two experiments, blind and blindfolded users performed target acquisition tasks using mid-air gestures and two different kinds of feedback（i.e., haptic feedback and audio feedback）. Our results show that participants perform faster in Fitts＇ law pointing tasks using the haptic feedback interface rather than the audio feedback interface. Furthermore, a regression analysis between movement time（MT） and the index of difficulty（ID）demonstrates that the Fitts＇ law model and the steering law model are both effective for the evaluation of assistive interfaces for the blind. Our work and findings will serve as an initial step to assist visually impaired people to easily access required information on large public displays using haptic interfaces.展开更多
基金supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.30670685 and No.30870307 to Mingxue Zuo)
文摘Birdsong is a complex learned vocal behavior that relies on auditory experience for development. However, it appears that among different species of close-ended songbirds, there are some variations in the necessity of auditory feedback for maintaining stereotyped adult song. In zebra finches, the deterioration of adult songs following deafness depends on the birds＇ age. It is unknown whether this age effect is a general rule in other avian species as well. Therefore, we chose Bengalese finches, whose songs show more complexity and have much heavier dependency on auditory feedback than that of zebra finches, to compare the degree of song degradation after hearing loss in old （over 18 months old） and young adult birds （5 - 6 months old）. We found that both syllable sequence and syllable phonology were much less severely affected by deafening in old adults than that in young ones. Moreover, young adults almost lost their capability to sing trills over 6 months following deafening, while old birds continued to sing plenty of trills and trilled syllables after the same period of deafening. Our results suggest that age plays an important role in affecting the dependency of adult song maintenance on auditory feedback in Bengalese finches. Furthermore, the age dependency may be a general phenomenon in different species of close-ended songbirds [ Current Zoology 55 （3）： 212 - 218, 2009].
基金partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No.61228206the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research of Japan under Grant Nos.23300048 and 25330241
文摘Large displays have become ubiquitous in our everyday lives, but these displays are designed for sighted people.This paper addresses the need for visually impaired people to access targets on large wall-mounted displays. We developed an assistive interface which exploits mid-air gesture input and haptic feedback, and examined its potential for pointing and steering tasks in human computer interaction（HCI）. In two experiments, blind and blindfolded users performed target acquisition tasks using mid-air gestures and two different kinds of feedback（i.e., haptic feedback and audio feedback）. Our results show that participants perform faster in Fitts＇ law pointing tasks using the haptic feedback interface rather than the audio feedback interface. Furthermore, a regression analysis between movement time（MT） and the index of difficulty（ID）demonstrates that the Fitts＇ law model and the steering law model are both effective for the evaluation of assistive interfaces for the blind. Our work and findings will serve as an initial step to assist visually impaired people to easily access required information on large public displays using haptic interfaces.
