Neville Moray (May 27, 1935 – 15 December 2017) was a British/Canadian academic and professor at the Department of Psychology of the
University of Surrey,
[Neville Moray Curriculum vitae](_blank)
at moraysatmagagnosc.com. Accessed March 12, 2014. known from his 1959 research of the
cocktail party effect
The cocktail party effect is the phenomenon of the brain's ability to focus one's auditory attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli, such as when a partygoer can focus on a single conversation in a noisy roo ...
.
Biography
Moray started studying medicine at
Worcester College, Oxford in 1953.
[Neville Moray](_blank)
Fellow Profile at hfes.org. Accessed March 12, 2014. He received his BA in philosophy, psychology and physiology in 1957, his MA in psychology in 1959, and his D.Phil. in 1960, all from
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
in the United Kingdom.
Moray started his academic career as assistant lecturer in psychology at the
University of Hull
, mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status
, type = Public
, endowment = £18.8 million (2016)
, budget = £190 million ...
in 1959. The next year he moved to the
University of Sheffield
, mottoeng = To discover the causes of things
, established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions:
– Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield
, type = Pu ...
and became lecturer in psychology, and senior lecturer in 1966. In 1970 he moved to Canada, where he became associate professor at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
, and professor of psychology in 1972. In 1974 he moved back to Scotland to become professor of psychology at the
University of Stirling
The University of Stirling (, gd, Oilthigh Shruighlea (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built ...
and chairman of Department of Psychology since 1977. In 1981, back at University of Toronto, he was appointed professor of industrial engineering, and member of its Institute of Nuclear Engineering since 1984. In 1988 he moved to the United States to the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...
, where until 1995 he had a joint appointment as professor at the Departments of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering; the Department of Psychology; and the Institute of Aviation. From 1995 to 1997 he was a professor at the
University of Valenciennes in France, and from 1997 until his retirement in 2001 he was a professor of psychology at
University of Surrey in the UK.
Moray was elected Fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society in 1991; Fellow of the
Ergonomics Society
The Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (CIEHF – formerly The Ergonomics Society) is a United Kingdom-based professional society for ergonomists, human factors specialists, and those involved in user-centred design.
History
Th ...
in 1998; Fellow of the
Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors
The Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (CIEHF – formerly The Ergonomics Society) is a United Kingdom-based professional society for ergonomists, human factors specialists, and those involved in user-centred design.
History
The ...
; and Fellow of the
International Ergonomics Association
The International Ergonomics Association (IEA) is a federation of fifty-two individual ergonomics organizations from around the world. IEA was formed in 1959.
The mission of the IEA is to elaborate and advance ergonomics science and practice, and ...
. The
International Ergonomics Association
The International Ergonomics Association (IEA) is a federation of fifty-two individual ergonomics organizations from around the world. IEA was formed in 1959.
The mission of the IEA is to elaborate and advance ergonomics science and practice, and ...
awarded him the Ergonomics Development Award and the President's Award in 2000. In 2000, Stirling University inaugurated the annual prize for best Combined Honours Student, to be named the "Neville Moray Prize."
He died on 15 December 2017 at the age of 82.
Work
Cocktail party phenomenon
Moray became known for his scientific contributions to the
cocktail party effect
The cocktail party effect is the phenomenon of the brain's ability to focus one's auditory attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli, such as when a partygoer can focus on a single conversation in a noisy roo ...
, which became his major research interest for about two decades.
This effect concerns the phenomenon of being able to focus one's auditory attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli. The effect was first defined and named "the
cocktail party problem
The cocktail party effect is the phenomenon of the brain's ability to focus one's auditory attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli, such as when a partygoer can focus on a single conversation in a noisy room ...
" by
Colin Cherry
Edward Colin Cherry (23 June 1914 – 23 November 1979) was a British cognitive scientist whose main contributions were in focused auditory attention, specifically the cocktail party problem regarding the capacity to follow one conversatio ...
in 1953.
Cherry found that participants were able to detect their name from the unattended channel, the channel they were not shadowing.
Moray build his research using Cherry's shadowing task. He was able to conclude that almost none of the rejected messages were able to penetrate the block set up, except subjectively "important" messages.
Neville Moray used Cherry's shadowed dichotic listening task in his 1959 research and was able to conclude that almost none of the rejected messages were able to penetrate the block set up, except subjectively "important" messages.
Personal names, taboo language, and backward language are the "subjectively" important messages that have been found to date. Moray's 1959 study found a 33% detection rate for personal names, which revealed that participants sometimes notice their name in an ignored auditory channel. This ability to selectively attend to one's own name has been found in infants as young as five months of age and appears to be fully developed by thirteen months of age.
Rochelle S. Newman in a 2005 study found that five-month-old infants listened longer to their names when the target voice was 10 dB, but not 5 dB more intense than the background noise. Nine-month-olds also failed at 5 dB, but thirteen-month-olds succeeded.
This success in recognizing one's own name in the unattended channel can be explained using Cherry's initial report on dichotic shadowing. Cherry found that the verbal content of the message in the unattended channel was completely blocked, so that the words were treated as merely sounds.
This allows the subject to know that something has stimulated the ear whose message is rejected. It may be thought of as a general warning signal, that a sound has occurred to which the subject might need to respond.
Selected publications
* Neville Moray, ''Cybernetics: Machines with Intelligence,'' Burns Oates, London, 1963.
* Neville Moray, ''Attention: Selective processes in vision and hearing.'' New York: Academic Press, 1970.
* Neville Moray (ed.) ''Mental workload: Its theory and measurement.'' Vol. 8. Plenum Publishing Corporation, 1979.
* Neville Moray,
Ergonomics: The history and scope of human factors'' Routledge, 2005.
Articles, a selection:
*
*
*
References
External links
* Google Scholar Profile
Neville Morayhomepage
Neville MorayFellow Profile at hfes.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moray, Neville
1935 births
2017 deaths
British psychologists
Canadian psychologists
Cyberneticists
University of Toronto faculty
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty
Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford
Academics of the University of Sheffield
Academics of the University of Surrey