Abstract
This study investigates the influence of temporal regularity on human listeners' ability to detect a repeating noise pattern embedded in statistically identical non-repeating noise. Human listeners were presented with white noise stimuli that either contained a frozen segment of noise that repeated in a temporally regular or irregular manner, or did not contain any repetition at all. Subjects were instructed to respond as soon as they detected any repetition in the stimulus. Pattern detection performance was best when repeated targets occurred in a temporally regular manner, suggesting that temporal regularity plays a facilitative role in pattern detection. A modulation filterbank model could account for these results.
Highlights
Beneficial to survival in a complex and ever-changing acoustic environment is the ability to quickly identify relevant sounds that comprise the scene
Previous noise learning studies have only explored conditions where repeating noise tokens were presented at precisely regular time intervals, and it is unclear whether such regularity is necessary or helpful for pattern detection
We found that detection performance declines with substantial amounts of temporal jitter, though pattern detection was remarkably robust to levels of jitter below this level
Summary
Beneficial to survival in a complex and ever-changing acoustic environment is the ability to quickly identify relevant sounds that comprise the scene. The brain needs to search for recurrences of arbitrary and potentially complex sounds over timescales ranging from fractions of a second to tens of seconds. While human sensitivity to arbitrary repeating patterns has been well documented (Kaernbach, 2004; Chait et al, 2007; Agus et al, 2010; Agus and Pressnitzer, 2013), the question of how repetition is detected in the first place remains poorly understood. Previous noise learning studies have only explored conditions where repeating noise tokens were presented at precisely regular (isochronous) time intervals, and it is unclear whether such regularity is necessary or helpful for pattern detection. If sensory memory alone is responsible for pattern detection, whether the sounds occur at regular or irregular intervals should have no effect on pattern detection
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
