Instructing subjects to make a voluntary response reveals the presence of two components to the audio-vocal reflex

Previous findings have shown that subjects respond to an alteration, or shi ft, of auditory feedback pitch with a change in voice fundamental frequency (F0). When pitch shifts exceeding 500 ms in duration were presented, subje cts' averaged responses appeared to consist of both an early and a late com ponent. The latency of the second response was long enough to be produced v oluntarily. To test the hypothesis that there are two responses to pitch-sh ift stimuli and to clarify the role of intention, subjects were instructed to change their voice FO in the opposite direction of the pitch-shift stimu lus, in the same direction, or not to respond at all. In a second group, su bjects were tested under the above conditions as well as under instructions to raise voice FO or to lower FO as rapidly as possible upon hearing a pit ch shift. Results showed that, when given instructions to produce a volunta ry response, subjects made both an early vocal response (VR1) and a later v ocal response (VR2), The second response, VR2, was almost always made in th e instructed direction, whereas VR1 was often made incorrectly. The latency of VRI was reduced under instructions to respond to feedback pitch shifts by changing voice FO in the opposite direction, compared with that when tol d to ignore the pitch shifts. Latency and amplitude measures of VR2 differe d under the various experimental conditions. These results demonstrate that there are two responses to pitch-shift stimuli. The first is relatively au tomatic but may be modulated by instructions to the participant. The second response is probably a voluntary one.