Amplitude modulation depth discrimination of a sinusoidal carrier: effect of stimulus duration

Discrimination of the change in depth of sinusoidal amplitude modulation (AM) was investigated as a function of stimulus duration. The carrier frequency was 4000 Hz, the standard modulation depth (m) was either 0.1, 0.18, or 0.3, and the modulation rate was either 10, 20, 40, or 80 Hz. For all standard depths and modulation rates, threshold (delta m) decreased by more than a factor o two as stimulus duration doubled from the shortest duration used up to a certain duration (critical duration), beyond which the threshold decreased only slightly or remained constant. The critical duration corresponded to about four cycles of modulation. Psychometric functions were measured for different stimulus durations to examine the extent to which a multiple-looks model could explain the present data. This model provided a reasonable prediction of the change in AM depth discrimination threshold as a function of stimulus duration.