Factors limiting performance in a multitone intensity-discrimination task: disentangling non-optimal decision weights and increased internal noise.

To identify factors limiting performance in multitone intensity discrimination, we presented sequences of five pure tones alternating in level between loud (85 dB SPL) and soft (30, 55, or 80 dB SPL). In the "overall-intensity task", listeners detected a level increment on all of the five...

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Autores principales:	Daniel Oberfeld, Martha Kuta, Walt Jesteadt
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/4df88940931d4d848e980c88c3840c1e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:4df88940931d4d848e980c88c3840c1e2021-11-18T08:45:31ZFactors limiting performance in a multitone intensity-discrimination task: disentangling non-optimal decision weights and increased internal noise.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0079830https://doaj.org/article/4df88940931d4d848e980c88c3840c1e2013-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/24278190/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203To identify factors limiting performance in multitone intensity discrimination, we presented sequences of five pure tones alternating in level between loud (85 dB SPL) and soft (30, 55, or 80 dB SPL). In the "overall-intensity task", listeners detected a level increment on all of the five tones. In the "masking task", the level increment was imposed only on the soft tones, rendering the soft tones targets and loud tones task-irrelevant maskers. Decision weights quantifying the importance of the five tone levels for the decision were estimated using methods of molecular psychophysics. Compatible with previous studies, listeners placed higher weights on the loud tones than on the soft tones in the overall-intensity condition. In the masking task, the decisions were systematically influenced by the to-be-ignored loud tones (maskers). Using a maximum-likelihood technique, we estimated the internal noise variance and tested whether the internal noise was higher in the alternating-level five-tone sequences than in sequences presenting only the soft or only the loud tones. For the overall-intensity task, we found no evidence for increased internal noise, but listeners applied suboptimal decision weights. These results are compatible with the hypothesis that the presence of the loud tones does not impair the precision of the representation of the intensity of the soft tones available at the decision stage, but that this information is not used in an optimal fashion due to a difficulty in attending to the soft tones. For the masking task, in some cases our data indicated an increase in internal noise. Additionally, listeners applied suboptimal decision weights. The maximum-likelihood analyses we developed should also be useful for other tasks or other sensory modalities.Daniel OberfeldMartha KutaWalt JesteadtPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 11, p e79830 (2013)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Daniel Oberfeld Martha Kuta Walt Jesteadt Factors limiting performance in a multitone intensity-discrimination task: disentangling non-optimal decision weights and increased internal noise.
description	To identify factors limiting performance in multitone intensity discrimination, we presented sequences of five pure tones alternating in level between loud (85 dB SPL) and soft (30, 55, or 80 dB SPL). In the "overall-intensity task", listeners detected a level increment on all of the five tones. In the "masking task", the level increment was imposed only on the soft tones, rendering the soft tones targets and loud tones task-irrelevant maskers. Decision weights quantifying the importance of the five tone levels for the decision were estimated using methods of molecular psychophysics. Compatible with previous studies, listeners placed higher weights on the loud tones than on the soft tones in the overall-intensity condition. In the masking task, the decisions were systematically influenced by the to-be-ignored loud tones (maskers). Using a maximum-likelihood technique, we estimated the internal noise variance and tested whether the internal noise was higher in the alternating-level five-tone sequences than in sequences presenting only the soft or only the loud tones. For the overall-intensity task, we found no evidence for increased internal noise, but listeners applied suboptimal decision weights. These results are compatible with the hypothesis that the presence of the loud tones does not impair the precision of the representation of the intensity of the soft tones available at the decision stage, but that this information is not used in an optimal fashion due to a difficulty in attending to the soft tones. For the masking task, in some cases our data indicated an increase in internal noise. Additionally, listeners applied suboptimal decision weights. The maximum-likelihood analyses we developed should also be useful for other tasks or other sensory modalities.
format	article
author	Daniel Oberfeld Martha Kuta Walt Jesteadt
author_facet	Daniel Oberfeld Martha Kuta Walt Jesteadt
author_sort	Daniel Oberfeld
title	Factors limiting performance in a multitone intensity-discrimination task: disentangling non-optimal decision weights and increased internal noise.
title_short	Factors limiting performance in a multitone intensity-discrimination task: disentangling non-optimal decision weights and increased internal noise.
title_full	Factors limiting performance in a multitone intensity-discrimination task: disentangling non-optimal decision weights and increased internal noise.
title_fullStr	Factors limiting performance in a multitone intensity-discrimination task: disentangling non-optimal decision weights and increased internal noise.
title_full_unstemmed	Factors limiting performance in a multitone intensity-discrimination task: disentangling non-optimal decision weights and increased internal noise.
title_sort	factors limiting performance in a multitone intensity-discrimination task: disentangling non-optimal decision weights and increased internal noise.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2013
url	https://doaj.org/article/4df88940931d4d848e980c88c3840c1e
work_keys_str_mv	AT danieloberfeld factorslimitingperformanceinamultitoneintensitydiscriminationtaskdisentanglingnonoptimaldecisionweightsandincreasedinternalnoise AT marthakuta factorslimitingperformanceinamultitoneintensitydiscriminationtaskdisentanglingnonoptimaldecisionweightsandincreasedinternalnoise AT waltjesteadt factorslimitingperformanceinamultitoneintensitydiscriminationtaskdisentanglingnonoptimaldecisionweightsandincreasedinternalnoise
_version_	1718421320622931968

Factors limiting performance in a multitone intensity-discrimination task: disentangling non-optimal decision weights and increased internal noise.

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