Year: 1989
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: It was previously reported that listeners' abilities to detect frequency changes in randomly generated sequences of tones were substantially worse when the changed sequence was transposed in frequency [G. R. Kidd and G. S. Watson, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1 84, S141 (1988)]. Listeners apparently rely on absolute frequency whenever they can and are relatively poor at using relative-frequency information even when they must do so to perform a discrimination task (i.e., when the changed pattern is transposed). The ability to detect changes in relative frequency was examined further in new experiments that included both high- and low-uncertainty conditions with five-tone and two-tone sequences. Under high-uncertainty conditions, performance with both five- and two-tone sequences was again relatively poor when the patterns were transposed, although somewhat better with the two-tone sequences. Under low-uncertainty conditions, performance with transposed patterns at both sequence lengths was often as good or better than with untransposed patterns, suggesting a strong role of pattern familiarity in the identification of patterns by the sequences of relative frequencies. [Work supported by AFOSR and NIH.]
DOI: 10.1121/1.2027350
Authors: Gary R. Kidd, Charles S. Watson
Institutions: Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2052210518