Abstract
Recognition of increments vs decrements in auditory intensity improves with signal duration, relative to detection of increments and decrements. This effect obtains whether the background stimulus is a tone, noise, or a tone with noise masker, and is largely uninfluenced by the rise time of the signals. These data are inconsistent with detection models in which the O makes only one sensory observation during each observation interval, but can be described in terms of a neural timing model in which transients play a critical role.
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Support for this investigation was provided by the City University of New York Faculty Research Award Program (Experiments I-III) and the Society of Sigma Xi (Experiments IV and V). I am grateful to David H. Raab for the use of his laboratory, and to Norma Graham for her many helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript.
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Macmillan, N.A. Detection and recognition of intensity changes in tone and noise: The detection-recognition disparity. Perception & Psychophysics 13, 65–75 (1973). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03207236
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03207236