Does a rhythmic context have an effect on perceptual weights in auditory intensity processing?

Abstract

The effects of a rhythmic context on auditory intensity processing were studied. Experiment 1 tested the hypothesis that the involuntary temporal direction of attention by a rhythmic context sequence influences the temporal weighting of loudness. Perceptual weight analysis was used to measure the attention directed to individual temporal portions of a longer stimulus by estimating the importance of individual temporal segments for global loudness judgements. A rhythmic context resulted in a sharper temporal weighting profile, but the expected rhythmic pattern of weights was not observed. In Experiment 2, the accuracy for detecting a peak in the temporal loudness profile of a level-fluctuating noise was measured for the level increment presented at expected and unexpected times. The rhythmic context again caused a more pronounced temporal weighting profile. However, the accuracy was neither significantly increased for expected target segment positions nor decreased for unexpected target segment positions, relative to the condition without a rhythmic context sequence.