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Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-pom-10.1177_03057356211046375 for Exploring historic changes in musical communication: Deconstructing emotional cues in preludes by Bach and Chopin by Cameron J. Anderson and Michael Schutz in Psychology of Music

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-pom-10.1177_03057356211046375 for Exploring historic changes in musical communication: Deconstructing emotional cues in preludes by Bach and Chopin by Cameron J. Anderson and Michael Schutz in Psychology of Music

Previous studies have examined whether audio-visual integration changes in older age, with some studies reporting age-related differences and others reporting no differences. Most studies have either used very basic and ambiguous stimuli (e.g., flash/beep) or highly contextualized, causally related stimuli (e.g., speech). However, few have used tasks that fall somewhere between the extremes of this continuum, such as those that include contextualized, causally related stimuli that are not speech-based; for example, audio-visual impact events. The present study used a paradigm requiring duration estimates and temporal order judgements (TOJ) of audio-visual impact events. Specifically, the Schutz–Lipscomb illusion, in which the perceived duration of a percussive tone is influenced by the length of the visual striking gesture, was examined in younger and older adults. Twenty-one younger and 21 older adult participants were presented with a visual point-light representation of a percussive impact event (i.e., a marimbist striking their instrument with a long or short gesture) combined with a percussive auditory tone. Participants completed a tone duration judgement task and a TOJ task. Five audio-visual temporal offsets (−400 to +400 ms) and five spatial offsets (from −90 to +90°) were randomly introduced. Results demonstrated that the strength of the illusion did not differ between older and younger adults and was not influenced by spatial or temporal offsets. Older adults showed an ‘auditory first bias’ when making TOJs. The current findings expand what is known about age-related differences in audio-visual integration by considering them in the context of impact-related events.

An observer’s inference that multimodal signals originate from a common underlying source can facilitate cross-modal binding in the temporal domain. This ‘unity assumption’ can cause asynchronous auditory and visual speech streams to seem simultaneous (Vatakis & Spence, 2007). Subsequent tests of non-speech stimuli such as the production of musical notes and impact events found no evidence for the unity assumption, suggesting it is speech-specific (Vatakis & Spence, 2008). Given that amplitude envelope (the changes in energy of a sound over time) has been shown to affect audiovisual integration, the current study investigates whether previous findings suggesting speech-specificity of the unity assumption were confounded by similarities in the amplitude envelopes of the contrasted auditory stimuli. To explore this, Experiment 1 used natural events with clearly differentiated envelopes: cello and marimba audiovisual stimuli. Participants performed an un-speeded temporal order judgments task; viewing audio-visually matched (e.g. marimba auditory with marimba video) and mismatched (e.g. cello auditory with marimba video) versions of stimuli at various stimulus onset asynchronies and indicated which modality was presented first. As predicted, participants were less sensitive to temporal order in matched conditions, demonstrating that the unity assumption can facilitate the perception of synchrony outside of speech stimuli. Results from Experiments 2 and 3 revealed that when spectral information was removed, amplitude envelope alone could not facilitate the influence of audiovisual unity. We propose that both amplitude and spectral cues affect the percept of audiovisual ‘unity’, likely working in concert to help an observer determine when to integrate across modalities.This is an author version of a published article. Please cite: Chuen, L., & Schutz, M. (2016). The unity assumption facilitates cross-modal binding of musical, non-speech stimuli: The role of spectral and amplitude envelope cues. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 1-17.

Recently, research has focused on bone marrow derived multipotent mesenchymal precursor cells (MPC) for their potential clinical use in bone engineering. Prior to clinical application, MPC-based treatment concepts need to be evaluated in preclinical, immunocompetent, large animal models. Sheep in particular are considered a valid model for orthopaedic and trauma related research. However, ovine MPC and their osteogenic potential remain poorly characterized. In the present study, ex vivo expanded MPC isolated from ovine bone marrow proliferated at a higher rate than osteoblasts (OB) derived from tibial compact bone as assessed using standard 2D culture. MPC expressed the respective phenotypic profile typical for different mesenchymal cell populations (CD14-/CD31-/CD45- /CD29+/CD44+/CD166+) and showed a multilineage differentiation potential. When compared to OB, MPC had a higher mineralization potential under standard osteogenic culture conditions and expressed typical markers such as osteocalcin, osteonectin and type I collagen at the mRNA and protein level. After 4 weeks in 3D culture, MPC constructs demonstrated higher cell density and mineralization, whilst cell viability on the scaffolds was assessed >90%. Cells displayed a spindle-like morphology and formed an interconnected network. Implanted subcutaneously into NOD/SCID mice on type I collagen coated polycaprolactone-tricalciumphosphate (mPCL-TCP) scaffolds, MPC presented a higher developmental potential than osteoblasts. In summary, this study provides a detailed in vitro characterisation of ovine MPC from a bone engineering perspective and suggests that MPC provide promising means for future bone disease related treatment applications.