Temporal resolution in children.
The auditory temporal resolving power of young children was measured using an adaptive forced-choice psychophysical paradigm that was disguised as a video game. 20 children between 3 and 7 years of age and 5 adults were asked to detect the presence of a temporal gap in a burst of half-octave-band noise at band center frequencies of 400 and 2,000 Hz. The minimum detectable gap (gap threshold) was estimated adaptively in 20-trial runs. The mean gap thresholds in the 400-Hz condition were higher for the younger children than for the adults, with the 3-year-old children producing the highest thresholds. Gap thresholds in the 2,000-Hz condition were generally lower than in the 400-Hz condition and showed a similar age effect. All the individual adaptive runs were "adult-like," suggesting that the children were generally attentive to the task during each run. However, the variability of threshold estimates from run to run was substantial, especially in the 3-5-year-old children. Computer simulations suggested that this large within-subjects variability could have resulted from frequent, momentary lapses of attention, which would lead to "guessing" on a substantial portion of the trials.
Wightman
F
F
Waisman Center on Mental Retardation and Human Development, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53705.
Allen
P
P
Dolan
T
T
Kistler
D
D
Jamieson
D
D
D001288:Attention; D001307:Auditory Perception; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013998:Time Perception