Simultaneous three-channel signal detection: Performance and criterion as a function of order of report

Abstract

Performance on a task requiring detection of three sinusoidal signals occurring simultaneously and independently was compared to single-channel performance. The signal frequencies were 500, 810, and 1,320 Hz, and all signals were presented monaurally in noise. The data for each channel were analyzed conditional on the stimulus-response events occurring in the remaining channels and conditional on the order of report. The decrement in performance in any channel in the three-channel task was found to increase as the number of signals and/or "yes" responses present in the remaining channels increased. Increasing decrements and criterion shifts were noted conditional on the order of report. The data are consistent with a model attributing the decrements in multichannel listening tasks to the later or "cognitive" stages of processing rather than to the earlier "perceptual" processing stages. © 1976 Psychonomic Society, Inc.