Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This paper describes a method of gathering experimental data for the study of frequency discrimination. The method is efficient in terms of participant time, is easy to deploy on an online platform to gather behavioral responses, and allows simultaneous measurement of brain activity without contamination from onset responses. The participant hears a continuous tone within each block, with frequency steps at predetermined intervals, and is invited to respond "up" or "down" to these steps by pressing one of two keys. The magnitude of the steps varies according to a predetermined schedule (constant-stimuli, not adaptive) from large (easy) to small (hard), and the discrimination threshold is derived from a psychometric function fitted to the responses to this sequence. Comparison with earlier published procedures shows that the new method yields comparable thresholds, albeit less variable and slightly lower, and thus presumably closer to sensory limits.
DOI: 10.1121/10.0039890
Authors: Jason Tzu-Hsien Lien, Abhinav Uppal, Rupesh Chillale, Nahaleh Fatemi, Torsten Marquardt, Alain de Cheveigné
Institutions: University of Cambridge, University College London, University of California San Diego, Ahmedabad University, University of Maryland, College Park, Johns Hopkins University, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, École Normale Supérieure - PSL, Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funder: Agence Nationale de la Recherche
OpenAlex ID: W4416278178