A study of the near-miss involving Weber’s law and pure-tone intensity discrimination

McGill, W. J.; Goldberg, J. P.

doi:10.3758/bf03209518

Cited by 139 publications

(64 citation statements)

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“…McGill and Goldberg (1968a, b) McGill (1967 has proposed an elegant model of intensity discrimination that is based on the number of neural impulses reaching a counting center. TI1e model assumes that the stimulus energy in an auditory channel is converted into neural impulses and that these impulses are collected at a counting center.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, they show that the slopes of the function relating AI and I on logarithmic coordinates are related to the parameter p as follows: the stimulus energy in the auditory channel into neural counts. In order to account for pure-tone intensity discrimination, McGill and Goldberg (1968a) posited a nonlinear mapping of stimulus energy into neural counts. In particular, McGill and Goldberg (1968a) concluded that the mean of the distribution of neural counts is related to stimulus energy by the following relationship:…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to account for pure-tone intensity discrimination, McGill and Goldberg (1968a) posited a nonlinear mapping of stimulus energy into neural counts. In particular, McGill and Goldberg (1968a) concluded that the mean of the distribution of neural counts is related to stimulus energy by the following relationship:…”

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confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Intensity discrimination for pulsed sinusoids of various frequencies

Penner¹,

Leshowitz

Cudahy

et al. 1974

Perception & Psychophysics

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Intensity discrimination for pulsed sinusoids of various frequencies

Penner¹,

Leshowitz

Cudahy

et al. 1974

Perception & Psychophysics

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“…If the just-noticeable difference (JND) in level is defined by the value of DL giving unity d¢, then the JND is equal to 1/d¢. It follows directly that Weber's Law, which refers to a constant JND as a function of level, corresponds to a d¢ that is independent of the reference level L. Similarly, the ''near miss'' to Weber's Law, which refers to the slight improvement in level discrimination of tones that has been experimentally observed as level increases (McGill and Goldberg 1968b;Florentine et al 1987), corresponds to a d¢(L) that increases with L.…”

Section: General Methods For Characterizing Performancementioning

confidence: 90%

Quantifying the Information in Auditory-Nerve Responses for Level Discrimination

Colburn

Carney

Heinz

2003

JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngolog

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An analytical approach for quantifying the information in auditory-nerve (AN) fiber responses for the task of level discrimination is described. A simple analytical model for AN responses is extended to include temporal response properties, including the nonlinear-phase effects of the cochlear amplifier. Use of simple analytical models for AN discharge patterns allows quantification of the contributions of leveldependent aspects of the patterns to level discrimination. Specifically, the individual and combined contributions of the information contained in discharge rate, synchrony, and relative phase cues are explicitly examined for level discrimination of tonal stimuli. It is shown that the rate information provided by individual AN fibers is more constrained by increases in variance with increases in rate than by saturation. As noted in previous studies, there is sufficient average-rate information within a narrow-CF region to account for robust behavioral performance over a wide dynamic range; however, there is no model based on a simple limitation or use of AN information consistent with parametric variations in performance. This issue is explored in the current study through analysis of performance based on different aspects of AN patterns. For example, we show that performance predicted from use of all rate information degrades significantly as level increases above low-medium levels, inconsistent with Weber's Law. At low frequencies, synchrony information extends the range over which behavioral performance can be explained by 10-15 dB, but only at low levels. In contrast to rate and synchrony, nonlinear-phase cues are shown to provide robust information at medium and high levels in near-CF fibers for lowfrequency stimuli. The level dependence of the discharge rate and phase properties of AN fibers are influenced by the compressive nonlinearity of the inner ear. Evaluating the role of the compressive nonlinearity in level coding is important for understanding neural encoding mechanisms and because of its association with the cochlear amplifier, which is a fragile aspect of the ear believed to be affected in common forms of hearing impairment.

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“…Symmetric ROC curves are due to high values of /Ln, indicating that the subject is forced to use a lot of less specific detection processes. threshold is obvious and has often been recommended (McGill & Goldberg, 1968a, 1968bZwislocki & Jordan, 1986). The Poisson model of signal detection assumes an infinite number of parallel low-threshold processes for the same signal.…”

Section: Parallel-threshold Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Poisson signal-detection theory: Link between threshold models and the Gaussian assumption

Kaernbach

1991

Perception & Psychophysics

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The Gaussian model of signal detection cannot fit asymmetric data as long as the variances of the distributions are kept equal. It is therefore common practice to assume unequal variances in order to fit these data. But this assumption leads to the well-known crossover problem. The present paper provides new arguments for the abandonment of the Gaussian model with unequal variances. In its stead, this paper reevaluates multiple-parallel-threshold models. In particular, the Poisson model turns out to be very useful: it can handle data with any degree of asymmetry, giving a reasonable interpretation of the two parameters ofthe receiver-operating characteristic. The three-state-threshold model

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A study of the near-miss involving Weber’s law and pure-tone intensity discrimination

Cited by 139 publications

References 14 publications

Intensity discrimination for pulsed sinusoids of various frequencies

Intensity discrimination for pulsed sinusoids of various frequencies

Quantifying the Information in Auditory-Nerve Responses for Level Discrimination

Poisson signal-detection theory: Link between threshold models and the Gaussian assumption

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