Summary
A theoretical extension of Zwislocki's theory of temporal summation in hearing predicts that the growth of auditory sensation is faster than its decay. Hence the reaction time to the start of a tone ought to be faster than that to its end. Two experiments which investigated this hypothesis are described. Both experiments measured the reaction times of subjects to the start and end of an imperfectly detectable 1000-Hz tone embedded in continuous noise. All three subjects in Experiment I and three of four subjects in Experiment II revealed reaction-time differences in the expected direction; that is to say, the reaction time to the start of the tone was faster than that to its end. One subject in Experiment II did not show this difference, however, and this subject's anomalous behaviour is seen as a qualification to the general nature of the theory.
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This research was supported by a grant to R.J. Irwin from the Golden Kiwi Scientific Research Distribution Committee and from the University of Auckland
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Kemp, S., Irwin, R.J. Reaction time to the start and end of weak signals in noise. Psychol. Res 40, 367–376 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00309417
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00309417