Comparison of spectral and nonspectral frequency difference limens for human and nonhuman primates.
Difference limens for frequency were measured in normal-hearing human and nonhuman-primate (macaque) subjects. Stimuli were 1-kHz pure tones, containing both spectral and temporal cues, and 100-Hz sinusoidally amplitude modulated broadband noise (SAM noise), containing only temporal (nonspectral) cues. Subjects were tested for a minimum of 20 sessions and until difference limens were stable over time for each stimulus at each of several sensation levels. Difference limens for pure-tone stimuli showed almost no overlap between human and nonhuman-primate subjects. Difference limens for SAM-noise stimuli for human and nonhuman-primate subjects overlapped considerably. The correlations between performance for the pure-tone stimuli and performance for the SAM noise stimuli averaged 0.60. These data suggest that at least two factors influence pure-tone frequency discrimination. One factor is dependent on the presence of place mechanisms while the other factor, or group of factors, seems to influence both spectral and nonspectral frequency discrimination.
Pfingst
B E
BE
Kresge Hearing Research Institute, Department of Otolaryngology, University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor 48109-0506.
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D000882:Haplorhini / Q000502:physiology*; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010898:Pitch Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D011571:Psychoacoustics