Preperceptual images, processing time, and perceptual units in auditory perception.

The present paper provides a theoretical account of the auditory recognition process. The theory describes recognition in terms of the information in a preperceptual auditory image and the time it is available for perceptual process-ing. Auditory recognition processes are assumed to be analogous to those operating in visual recognition. Necessary distinctions are drawn between auditory detection, recognition, and short-term memory. Studies of recogni-tion provide direct support for a preperceptual auditory image that outlasts the sensory input. The processing of the preperceptual auditory image cor-responds to a readout of the information available in a temporal or perceptual unit of information. Studies of speech perception support these conclusions. The syllable, not the phoneme, is implicated as the perceptual unit for speech perception. Thus, a framework is provided for the recognition stage of auditory information processing. This stage of perceptual processing outputs a syn-thesized percept that is utilized by succeeding stages of cognitive processing. The perceptual process is characterized by the temporal course of identification or recognition. Recognition of a stimulus requires an analysis and synthesis of the information available in the sensory input. In vision, the visual image during an eye fixation keeps the information available for the recognition process. In contrast, an auditory input continuously changes over time and the information in the stimulus might not remain available. However, if the auditory information was held in a pre-perceptual auditory store, auditory per-ception might also involve a readout of the auditory image of the stimulus. The im-portant characteristics of the auditory image will, of course, differ from those in the visual image. The major difference between the two images appears to be the critical dimension of the stimulus necessary for feature recognition. Whereas the spatial pattern is the important dimension