Comparison of absolute thresholds derived from an adaptive forced-choice procedure and from reaction probabilities and reaction times in a simple reaction time paradigm.

Full Abstract

An understanding of the auditory system's operation requires knowledge of the mechanisms underlying thresholds. In this work we compare detection thresholds obtained with a three-interval-three-alternative forced-choice paradigm with reaction thresholds extracted from both reaction probabilities (RP) and reaction times (RT) in a simple RT paradigm from the same listeners under otherwise nearly identical experimental conditions. Detection thresholds, RP, and RT to auditory stimuli exhibited substantial variation from session to session. Most of the intersession variation in RP and RT could be accounted for by intersession variation in a listener's absolute sensitivity. The reaction thresholds extracted from RP were very similar, if not identical, to those extracted from RT. On the other hand, reaction thresholds were always higher than detection thresholds. The difference between the two thresholds can be considered as the additional amount of evidence required by each listener to react to a stimulus in an unforced design on top of that necessary for detection in the forced-choice design. This difference is inversely related to the listener's probability of producing false alarms. We found that RT, once corrected for some irreducible minimum RT, reflects the time at which a given stimulus reaches the listener's reaction threshold. This suggests that the relationships between simple RT and loudness (reported in the literature) are probably caused by a tight relationship between temporal summation at threshold and temporal summation of loudness.

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Author information

Author/s: Heil, Peter (P); Neubauer, Heinrich (H); Tiefenau, Andreas (A); von Specht, Hellmut (H);

Affiliation: Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Brenneckestr. 6, D-39118, Magdeburg, Germany. peter.heil(-atsign-)ifn-magdeburg.de

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Clinical Trial; Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology : JARO (J Assoc Res Otolaryngol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Sep; vol 7 (issue 3) : pp 279-98

Dates: Created 2006/08/09; Completed 2006/12/12; Revised 2008/03/18;

PMID: 16823660, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

Comments and Corrections

ErratumIn: J Assoc Res Otolaryngol. 2006 Dec;7(4):443.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Auditory Threshold - physiology
Differential Threshold - physiology
Female
Humans

Humans
Loudness Perception - physiology
Male
Probability
Reaction Time - physiology

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