Persistence and integration: Two consequences of a sliding integrator

The detection of a silent interval, or gap, placed in the temporal center of a gated noise burst was investigated. The gated noise masker ranged from 2 to 400 msec in duration. For long noises, the duration, Δ, of the just-detectable gap remained fixed at about 2.8 msec. Progressively shortening the duration of the noise did not affect Δ until the duration was approximately 20 msec; thereafter, decreasing the noise duration improved detectability of the gap. In a second experiment, continuous noise filled the temporal gap, although the decibel difference between the noise in the gap and the noise surrounding the gap was always at least 5 dB. The level of noise filling the gap did not greatly affect Δ. The third experiment was similar to the first, except that the signal was a click rather than a gap. The results for both gaps and clicks were fitted by a model assuming a sliding integrator.