Stimulus-based versus performance-based measurement of auditory backward recognition masking

Abstract

Estimates of the time required for the extraction of pitch information from auditory memory have been made using the auditory backward recognition masking (ABRM) technique. With this technique, the ability to recognize the pitch of the first of two sequential tones is determined for various delays between the tones. Most investigators have used fixed stimulus values and have measured performance in terms of P(C), the proportion of correct responses. Use of this measure, proportion correct, as the dependent variable is shown in the present studies to yield, for ABRM, duration estimates that are different from those obtained when the same data are evaluated in stimulus terms for a fixed level of performance. The time course of information extraction from auditory memory was found to extend over approximately 100 msec when measured in stimulus terms, in contrast to the 250 msec that has been reported from data expressed as a proportion of correct responses to a fixed stimulus value. The apparently disparate results previously reported are shown to be mutually consistent if monotonic psychophysical functions are assumed to provide an adequate description of performance in ABRM tasks. Several reasons are proposed for preferring the stimulus-based measures of ABRM. © 1984 Psychonomic Society, Inc.