Abstract
In an earlier study [Emmerich, Pitchford, and Becker, Percept. Psychophys. 20, 210–214 (1976)] designed to investigate the suppression effects of a tonal background on simple reaction time to suprathreshold signal tones, the authors obtained somewhat disconcerting results. For widely separated background and signal frequencies, the presence of a continuous tonal “masker” facilitated rather than impaired reaction time. The present research had two purposes: to investigate the influence of a background tone on reaction time for a variety of background frequencies and intensities, and to investigate one possible explanation of the facilitation of reaction time which was observed earlier. As in the earlier study, for moderate intensities the presence of a background tone in the stimulus profile facilitated reaction time over a wide range of background frequencies. Additional results are consistent with the notion that observers are able to monitor the ongoing neural activity in response to the continuously present background while listening for the presentation of the signal, and that modulation of this activity when the signal is presented is a useful cue in this situation.
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