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Sequential grouping modulates the effect of non-simultaneous masking on auditory intensity resolution
Daniel Oberfeld1, Patricia Stahn
1Department of Psychology, Section Experimental Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Mainz, Germany. oberfeld@uni-mainz.de
Plos One
|October 31, 2012
Summary
Auditory intensity resolution is impaired by non-simultaneous maskers. Grouping targets and maskers into separate auditory objects improves attention and reduces this impairment, aiding intensity discrimination.
Area of Science:
- Auditory perception
- Psychoacoustics
- Cognitive neuroscience
Background:
- Non-simultaneous maskers significantly impair auditory intensity resolution.
- Peripheral processing alone cannot fully explain these complex effects.
- Selective attention failure is a proposed mechanism for masker-induced impairment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test if sequential grouping of targets and maskers into separate auditory objects facilitates selective attention.
- To determine if this facilitated attention reduces masker-induced impairment in intensity resolution.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1: Contrasted grouping by temporal proximity with forward masking.
- Experiment 2: Embedded targets in isochronous masker sequences versus control conditions.
- Measured intensity difference limens (DLs) to assess auditory intensity resolution.
Main Results:
- Grouping by temporal proximity significantly reduced masker-induced elevation of DLs.
- Embedding targets in isochronous masker sequences also led to significantly smaller DL-elevation.
- These grouping effects support the role of selective attention in intensity discrimination.
Conclusions:
- Auditory object formation and object-based attention play a crucial role in mitigating masker-induced deficits in intensity resolution.
- Precise intensity information is available but suboptimally utilized due to attentional limitations.
- Findings provide constraints for physiological models of intensity discrimination and suggest candidate neural correlates.
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