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 processing. 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 recognition provide direct support for a preperceptual auditory image that outlasts the sensory input. The processing of the preperceptual auditory image corresponds 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 synthesized percept that is utilized by succeeding stages of cognitive processing.