Temporal interference effects in auditory amplitude discrimination

The efficiency, y,η of performance in amplitude discrimination is examined as a function of the temporal separation, Γ, of the two signals to be discriminated. Performance in a monaural amplitude discrimination task is compared with that in a dichotic amplitude discrimination task, in which the first of the two signals was always presented to one ear and the second signal to the other ear. The difference in the shape of the resulting η versus Γ functions for the monaural and dichotic cases is interpreted in terms of peripheral and central interference effects.