The Natural Statistics of Audiovisual Speech

Humans, like other animals, are exposed to a continuous stream of signals, which are dynamic, multimodal, extended, and time varying in nature. This complex input space must be transduced and sampled by our sensory systems and transmitted to the brain where it can guide the selection of appropriate actions. To simplify this process, it's been suggested that the brain exploits statistical regularities in the stimulus space. Tests of this idea have largely been confined to unimodal signals and natural scenes. One important class of multisensory signals for which a quantitative input space characterization is unavailable is human speech. We do not understand what signals our brain has to actively piece together…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: 0547760, CAREER
• UO
  University of Sheffield
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Awards: R01NS054898, R90 DA023419-02
• NI
  National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
• NI
  National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

  Award: R01NS054898