title: Loudness bisection and masking in the rat (Rattus norvegicus).
abstract: The bisection method of animal psychophysical scaling was examined as a measurement procedure. The critical assumptions of bisection scaling, as described by Pfanzagl (1968), were tested to determine if a valid equal-interval scale could be derived. A valid scale was derived in which loudness for the rat (Rattus norvegicus; n = 13) was a power function of sound pressure for 4-kHz tones. Masking noise reduced the discriminability of tonal stimuli but did not affect the bisection point. This result is consistent with an interval scale representation of loudness and demonstrates scale meaningfulness. Loudness bisection data that have been reported in the literature for 3 species (humans, rats, and pigeons) are in substantial agreement with our results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microwave Research, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, DC 20307-5100.
authors.forename: T G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Raslear
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shurtleff
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Simmons
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention; D005795:Generalization, Stimulus; D008144:Loudness Perception; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013045:Species Specificity