Backward masking in judgments of duration

Abstract

In a series of systematic studies, Massaro and his colleagues (Massaro, 1970, 1975; Massaro, Cohen, & Idson, 1976) have demonstrated that the judgment about the pitch, timbre, or lateralization of an auditory stimulus can be influenced by following the stimulus to be identified (the test stimulus) by a second auditory stimulus (the mask). Correct recognition improves as the interval between the offset of the test stimulus and the onset of the mask is increased to about 250 msec. The data from these recognition masking studies form the foundation for Massaro's (1975) theory for auditory recognition. Massaro (1972b) suggested that the recognition masking paradigm might also prove to be useful in understanding the manner in which temporal information is processed, and recently he has used this paradigm to investigate the perceived duration of brief auditory events (Massaro & Idson, 1976). On each trial, one of two auditory test stimuli which differed induration was followed, after a variable silent interval, by a second auditory stimulus, the mask. The subject's task was to identify the task stimulus as short or long. The durations of the test stimuli arid the masks were brief-less than 110 msec. The data clearly indicate that performance was influenced by the duration of the test stimulus, the duration of the silent intertone interval, and the duration of the mask. For the purpose of the present note, the important finding was that duration discrimination improved as the interval between the offset of the test stimulus and the onset of the mask was increased to about 165 msec. Cantor and Thomas (1976) have reported a duration masking study using visual stimuli. The duration of the test stimulus was either 20 or 50 msec, the duration of the mask was 500 msec, and the test stimulus-offset/mask-onset interval varied from