TOT: An acoustic CV syllable temporal onset analog?

Abstract

Temporal order identification threshold (TOT) exhibits some similarities to the labeling boundary for several types of CV syllables varying along temporal onset continua. These continuum involve very roughly a 30‐ms onset asynchronies and exhibit selective adaptation. Like the speech continuum, TOT for tones is not fixed, but is a continuous function of the total stimulus duration [R. Pastore, L. Harris, and J. Kaplan. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 67, S7 (1980)]. If TOT exhibits other characteristics similar to initial speech boundaries, then the various types of continua may have a common basis. However, if the continua exhibit different characteristics, then either only some of the underlying processes are common to the perception of the continua or the perception of the two continua only seem similar under certain conditions. This latter finding would have major implications for infant and nonhuman research which demonstrate behaviorally measured perceptual discontinuities with approximately 20‐ms VOT onset asy...