Researchers at NYU’s Langone Medical Center have published research in “Nature Neuroscience” detailing how information collected via other senses influences our interpretations of what we hear. The team learned that, “The brain’s interpretation of sound is influenced by cues from other senses…’What the brain ‘hears’ depends on what is ‘seen’ in addition to specific sounds, as the brain calculates how to respond,’ says study senior investigator and neuroscientist Robert Froemke, PhD, an assistant professor at NYU Langone and its Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine…‘Our study shows how the same sound can mean different things inside the brain depending on the situation,’ says Froemke. ‘We know, for instance, that people learn to respond without alarm to the honk of a car horn if heard from the safety of their homes, but are startled to hear the same honk while crossing a busy street.’”
This finding may help design researchers better understand apparently conflicting information that they gather during project-specific studies, related to, for example, challenges faced when trying to concentrate in a particular workplace.
“Making Sense of the Senses: ‘Context’ Matters When the Brain Interprets Sounds.” 2016. Press release, NYU Langone Medical Center, http://nyulangone.org/press-releases/making-sense-of-the-senses-context-matters-when-the-brain-interprets-sounds
Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.