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Journal of the American Academy of... Jan 2004This is the second in a series of two papers on masking. The objective of these papers is to develop a masking protocol that provides valid measures of threshold and is,... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study
This is the second in a series of two papers on masking. The objective of these papers is to develop a masking protocol that provides valid measures of threshold and is, in general, faster than the plateau method. In the first paper, a masking method was presented that can replace the traditional plateau method in most masking situations. This new method is optimized to require fewer masking levels than the plateau method. As a result, this optimized method is faster, sometimes significantly, than the plateau method. This paper evaluates the optimized method and compares the optimized method to the traditional plateau method. This paper identifies specific masking situations in which the optimized method is not appropriate. A variation on the plateau method is described. When combined with the optimized method, these two masking methods constitute a recommended masking protocol that can be used in all masking situations.
Topics: Audiometry; Auditory Threshold; Bone Conduction; Evaluation Studies as Topic; Humans; Perceptual Masking; Statistics as Topic
PubMed: 15030100
DOI: 10.3766/jaaa.15.1.5 -
Psychological Bulletin May 2009The extent to which unconscious information can influence behavior has been a topic of considerable debate throughout the history of psychology. A frequently used method... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
The extent to which unconscious information can influence behavior has been a topic of considerable debate throughout the history of psychology. A frequently used method for studying subliminal processing is the masked priming paradigm. The authors focused on studies in which this paradigm was used. Their aim was twofold: first, to assess the magnitude of subliminal priming across the literature and to determine whether subliminal primes are processed semantically, and second, to examine potential moderators of priming effects. The authors found significant priming in their analyses, indicating that unconsciously presented information can influence behavior. Furthermore, priming was observed under circumstances in which a nonsemantic interpretation could not fully explain the effects, suggesting that subliminally presented information can be processed semantically. Nonetheless, the nonsemantic processing of primes is enhanced and priming effects are boosted when the experimental context allows the formation of automatic stimulus-response mappings. This quantitative review also revealed several moderators that influence the strength of priming. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Cues; Decision Making; Humans; Perceptual Masking; Semantics; Subliminal Stimulation; Unconscious, Psychology
PubMed: 19379025
DOI: 10.1037/a0015329 -
The Journal of Physiology May 2013
Topics: Animals; Cochlea; Humans; Perceptual Masking; Sound
PubMed: 23678149
DOI: 10.1113/jphysiol.2013.254490 -
Attention, Perception & Psychophysics Jan 2017A difference in fundamental frequency (ΔF0) and a difference in spatial location (ΔSL) are two cues known to provide masking releases when multiple speakers talk at...
A difference in fundamental frequency (ΔF0) and a difference in spatial location (ΔSL) are two cues known to provide masking releases when multiple speakers talk at once in a room. We examined situations in which reverberation should have no effect on the mechanisms underlying the releases from energetic masking produced by these two cues. Speech reception thresholds using both unpredictable target sentences and the coordinate response measure followed a similar pattern. Both ΔF0s and ΔSLs provided masking releases in the presence of nonspeech maskers (matched in excitation pattern and temporal envelope to the speech maskers) that, as intended, were robust to reverberation. Larger masking releases were obtained for speech maskers, but critically, they were affected by reverberation. These results suggest that reverberation either limits the amount of informational masking that is present to begin with or affects its release by ΔF0s or ΔSLs.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Perceptual Masking; Psychoacoustics; Speech Perception
PubMed: 27645216
DOI: 10.3758/s13414-016-1207-3 -
Vision Research Aug 2003When two target stimuli (T1 and T2) are presented sequentially within half a second of each other, identification accuracy is often poor for T2. This phenomenon, known...
When two target stimuli (T1 and T2) are presented sequentially within half a second of each other, identification accuracy is often poor for T2. This phenomenon, known as attentional blink (AB), can be observed generally only if the stimulus terminating the presentation of T2 acts as an interruption mask. Recent evidence suggests that even four small dots surrounding a target item can exert masking effects, provided the target onset occurs at an unattended spatial location. In order to test whether an AB could be observed under conditions of four-dot masking of T2, five rapid serial visual presentation streams of letters were synchronously displayed on each trial of the present experiment. T1 and T2 were digits presented at unpredictable locations and unpredictable temporal intervals. T2 was followed by either a blank field, a letter, or four-dots. No AB was observed when T2 was not masked, but robust and equally sized ABs were observed when T2 was followed by both the letter mask and the four-dots.
Topics: Adult; Attention; Blinking; Cues; Female; Fixation, Ocular; Humans; Male; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Perceptual Masking; Visual Perception
PubMed: 12831753
DOI: 10.1016/s0042-6989(03)00308-0 -
Journal of Experimental Psychology.... Jun 2003Visual feature extraction has been investigated using search experiments. Targets that contain a feature not present in the distractors are easier to detect than if they...
Visual feature extraction has been investigated using search experiments. Targets that contain a feature not present in the distractors are easier to detect than if they do not, leading to search asymmetries. If sounds are decomposed into features in the auditory system, there might be asymmetries in analogous tasks. Six experiments investigating this are described. Strong asymmetries were identified, with frequency-modulated targets easier to detect among pure-tone distractors than vice versa and longer sounds easier to select from short distractors than the reverse. It is demonstrated that this asymmetry is not a result of peripheral limitations. In contrast, no asymmetries were observed between high- and low-frequency tones or between short 3-tone sequences differing only in their temporal structure. The results are discussed with reference to models of perceptual grouping and attention, the applicability of analogies between vision and audition, and possible physiological correlates. The paradigm provides a new way in which to investigate auditory feature extraction.
Topics: Auditory Perception; Hearing; Humans; Perceptual Masking
PubMed: 12848335
DOI: 10.1037/0096-1523.29.3.713 -
Vision Research Sep 2017Mechanisms underlying perceptual grouping serve to bind stimulus components that are contained within grouped patterns. In order to examine the time course of grouping...
Mechanisms underlying perceptual grouping serve to bind stimulus components that are contained within grouped patterns. In order to examine the time course of grouping development, grids of spatially isolated dots were followed by pattern masks across a range of SOA. Subjects indicated the predominant perceived grouping of the dot patterns. Masks either spatially superimposed target elements (element mask), or superimposed elements as well as paths among elements (connection mask). Element masks thereby disrupted processing of target elements, while connection masks additionally disrupted representations in regions among elements. It was found that element masks disrupted grouping 12ms after target offset, after which masks had no effect. Connection masks disrupted grouping up to 47ms following target offset. Results suggest grouping mechanisms access the afferent signal for a brief period early in processing, after which binding formation proceeds for an addition 35ms. Shortening connection mask duration to 12ms enhanced performance during a brief temporal window within the interference period. For each set of conditions, target elements were visible during the time frame in which stimulus patterns could not be perceptually grouped. Full-field checkerboard masks degraded discrimination similarly as connection masks, although were more effective in disrupting discrimination with an SOA of 24 and 36ms. Degrading stimulus organization progressively extended the time scale for each masking effect. For the grouping of low-level stimulus features tested here, results support a model in which afferent signals are accessed early, followed by progressive binding among grouped elements. Effect of shortening connection masks may reflect incomplete disruption of target processing, or possibly re-entry of stimulus representations by feedback from higher processing areas.
Topics: Association Learning; Discrimination, Psychological; Female; Humans; Male; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Perceptual Masking; Psychophysics; Reaction Time; Sensory Thresholds
PubMed: 28709921
DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2017.05.014 -
Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology &... Jul 19991. Subjects with schizoaffective disorder have an impairment in early visual information processing known as backward masking. 2. Backward masking studies in... (Review)
Review
1. Subjects with schizoaffective disorder have an impairment in early visual information processing known as backward masking. 2. Backward masking studies in schizoaffective disorder have not established if the deficit: is state- or trait-related; is associated with negative symptoms or neuroleptic treatment; or is partially attributable to lithium treatment. 3. Integration and interruption are mechanisms of backward masking in schizoaffective disorder, but experiments maximizing interruption only, have not been performed. 4. Studies isolating the transient visual channels have not been performed in patients with schizoaffective disorder.
Topics: Humans; Perceptual Masking; Psychotic Disorders; Visual Perception
PubMed: 10509374
DOI: 10.1016/s0278-5846(99)00040-8 -
The Journal of the Acoustical Society... Dec 1998Neff and Green [Percept. Psychophys. 41, 409-415 (1987)] report that the masking of single tones by random-frequency multitone maskers varies nonmonotonically with...
Neff and Green [Percept. Psychophys. 41, 409-415 (1987)] report that the masking of single tones by random-frequency multitone maskers varies nonmonotonically with number of masker components (peaking at 10-50 components). In this paper it is shown that such results are well predicted by a model (the component-relative-entropy model, CoRE) wherein thresholds increase linearly with the ensemble variance of masker spectra smoothed by peripheral auditory filters [R. A. Lutfi, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 94, 748-758 (1993)]. Three experiments were conducted. In the first, the nonmonotonic relation was replicated for 9 of 11 listeners in conditions similar to those of Neff and Green. In the second, the frequencies of masker components were fixed and the levels of components were varied randomly across presentations to simulate Gaussian noise. In this case, the nonmonotonicity and the total amount of masking for these listeners were shown to be significantly reduced. In the third experiment, masked thresholds for the signal were found to vary monotonically with the frequency spacing of masker components for a fixed number of masker components. Large individual differences among listeners were obtained in some experimental conditions. Individual as well as mean thresholds were well predicted by the CoRE model with an appropriate selection of the values of the two free parameters of the model for each listener.
Topics: Adult; Auditory Perception; Auditory Threshold; Female; Humans; Male; Models, Biological; Perceptual Masking
PubMed: 9857508
DOI: 10.1121/1.423932 -
Perception Oct 2017The current study compared the effectiveness of masking on recognition performance for faces and voices of celebrities and personally familiar individuals. On the basis...
The current study compared the effectiveness of masking on recognition performance for faces and voices of celebrities and personally familiar individuals. On the basis of the theory suggesting stronger memory representations for personally familiar individuals, we expected masking to be more effective for celebrities than for personally familiar stimulus persons. Furthermore, we sought to replicate the face recognition advantage with masked stimuli. Face pixelation and electronic changes of the voice pitch were applied as masking techniques, using four masking levels for each stimulus. Thirty-one undergraduate students were presented with the masked faces and voices of 10 celebrities and 10 personally familiar fellow students. As expected, more correct recognitions occurred for faces than for voices, suggesting that masking does not counteract the mechanisms causing the face recognition advantage. Unexpectedly, masking effectiveness did not differ between celebrities and personally familiar individuals. This may be due to the type of personally familiar individuals used. Within personally familiar stimuli, increased familiarity did not predict the effectiveness of masking. Whereas the highest masking level eliminated speaker recognition, masking did not fully eliminate face recognition. From a practical perspective, the findings especially question the suitability of pixelation as a means for identity concealment.
Topics: Adult; Auditory Perception; Facial Recognition; Female; Humans; Male; Perceptual Masking; Recognition, Psychology; Young Adult
PubMed: 28555531
DOI: 10.1177/0301006617710621