Visual and auditory signal responses, including chromatic adaptation, binaural and monaural phenomena, and other psychophysiological dat

Jeffress, L. A.

English

Conduct studies of auditory information processing emphasizing application of signal detectability theory to auditory sensory response

NASA Technical Reports Server

Approved by: 
Semiannual Report, Contract  Nonr-3379( 04) 
1 June 1966 through 30 November 1966 
Supported by Fund Trans fe r  R - 1 2 9  from 
Office of Grants  and Research Cont rac ts ,  
Nat iona l  Aeronaut ics  and Space Adminis t ra t ion 
and 
Tenth Quar t e r ly  S t a t u s  Report 
NASA Number R-129-@-030-017 
1 September 1966 through 30 November 1966 
25 January  1967 Copy No. 7 
Prepared by L .  A.  Jeffress 
xa g- 
L .  A .  Jeffress 
P r o j e c t  Supervisor  
R .  H .  Wallace 
Head, Acous t ics  D iv i s ion  
Approved by: 
D i r e c t  or U 
DEFENSE RESEARCH LABORATORY 
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS 
AUSTIN, TEXAS 78712 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19670016349 2020-03-16T18:20:52+00:00Z
25 January  1967 
Semiannual Report  for Contract  Nonr-3379(04) 
f o r  t h e  pe r iod  of 1 June 1966 through 30 November 1966 
Nat iona l  Aeronaut ics  and Space Adminis t ra t ion  
and 
Supported by Fund Trans fe r  R-129 from Off ice  of  Grants  and Research Cont rac ts ,  
Tenth Q u a r t e r l y  S t a t u s  Report f o r  NASA Number R-129-@-030-017 
for t h e  pe r iod  1 September 1966 through 30 November 1966 
by 
Lloyd A .  Jeffress 
I .  STATUS OF PROPOSED PROBLEM 
A .  Method of  Free Response 
( C .  S .  Watson and T .  L .  Nichols )  
Work on t h e  problem has been completed and a paper  covering p a r t  o f  t h e  work 
w i l l  be d e l i v e r e d  a t  t h e  December 1966 meeting of  t h e  American Assoc ia t ion  f o r  
t h e  Advancement of  Science.  An a b s t r a c t  o f  t h e  paper  i s  included i n  t h e  appendix.  
B. Detec t ion  Performance and Two Parameters of  t h e  Auditory Stimulus 
( T .  L .  Nichols )  
Work on t h e  problem has been completed. A paper  covering p a r t  o f  t h e  work 
w a s  p resented  a t  t h e  November 1966 meeting of  t h e  Acous t ica l  Soc ie ty  of  America. 
An a b s t r a c t  of t h e  paper  appears  i n  t h e  appendix, and t h e  s tudy i s  being pre-  
pared for p u b l i c a t i o n .  
C .  E f f e c t s  of V i sua l  Adaptat ion of t h e  Detec t ion  o f  a Visua l  St imulus 
( G .  H .  Jacobs and H .  A.  Gaylord) 
De tec t ion  of a b r i e f  v i s u a l  s t imulus i n  t h e  presence of "noisell generated 
by chmmat i c  and achromatic adap ta t ion  i s  be ing  s t u d i e d .  The preexposure t o  
l i g h t  appears  t o  gene ra t e  neu ra l  a c t i v i t y  which a c t s  as a kind of  "noise"  i n  
t h e  d e t e c t i o n  process .  The s u b j e c t s '  responses are i n  t h e  form of  r a t i n g ,  so  
thar; ROC curves can be obta ined  from t h e  experimental  data. 
1 
D. S i g n a l  Detec t ion  and t h e  Width o f  C r i t i c a l  Bands 
( R .  B.  Evans and L .  A .  Jeffress) 
Work on t h i s  problem i s  underway, The pre l iminary  r e s u l t s  suggest  t h a t  t h e  
band f o r  a 500 Hz s i g n a l  i s  narrower than  many estimates have ind ica t ed ,  and 
t h a t  t h e  shape i s  dec idedly  asymmetrical. 
system (desc r ibed  i n  paragraph F) makes p o s s i b l e  t h e  t a k i n g  of d a t a  f o r  several 
d i f f e r e n t  s i g n a l  levels i n  a s i n g l e  s i t t i n g ,  so t h a t  psychometric func t ions  f o r  
t h e  va r ious  f i l t e r  combinations w i l l  be genera ted .  
The a v a i l a b i l i t y  of  t h e  new record ing  
E. Psychometric Funct ions f o r  a n  E a r  Model: E f f e c t  o f  Durat ion 
( L .  A .  Jeffress and A .  D .  Gaston, J r . )  
This  work has been completed and is  appearing as a n  a r t i c l e  i n  t h e  February 
i s s u e  o f  t h e  J o u r n a l  of  t h e  Acous t ica l  Soc ie ty  of  America. 
d i s t r i b u t e d  as a Defense Research Laboratory Acous t i ca l  Report .  
O f f p r i n t s  w i l l  be 
F .  Programming, Punched-Card Recording Equipment 
(A .  D .  Gaston, J r . )  
This  equipment has been f i n i s h e d  and has been i n  ope ra t ion  f o r  s e v e r a l  weeks. 
The punched-tape programmer can present  no ise  a lone  and/or seven d i f f e r e n t  l e v e l s  
o f  s i g n a l  t o  f o u r  s u b j e c t s  at a time. 
it occurred  i n  t h e  f irst  or second i n t e r v a l  i s  punched on an  IBM card .  
f o u r  columns record  t h e  s u b j e c t s '  responses,  and t h e s e  may be yes-no, f i r s t - o r -  
second i n t e r v a l ,  or a 10-point  r a t i n g  response.  
16 s t i m u l i  and t h e  corresponding 64 responses are recorded on a s i n g l e  card .  
Programs for t h e  CDC 3200 computer have been w r i t t e n  t o  process  t h e  d a t a  and 
y i e l d  P(C) and d '  f o r  two-a l te rna t ive ,  forced-choice t r ia ls ,  and ROC curves for 
t h e  r a t i n g  experiments .  The equipment i s  s u f f i c i e n t l y  v e r s a t i l e  so t h a t  it a l s o  
permi ts  automatic  programming and recording of  p e d e s t a l  experiments and exper i -  
ments i n  p i t c h  d i sc r imina t ion .  A d e t a i l e d  d e s c r i p t i o n  of t h e  equipment i s  be ing  
prepared  f o r  i s suance  as a Defense Research Laboratory Acous t ica l  Report .  
The magnitude of t h e  s t imulus  and whether 
The next  
The sequence i s  repea ted  so  t h a t  
2 
G .  ROC Curves for Mul t i l eve l  S igna l s  
( A .  Tucker and R. B. Evans) 
ROC curves are being obtained from four  sub jec t s ,  using t h e  apparatus  
descr ibed  i n  paragraph F. Prel iminary f ind ings  i n d i c a t e  t h a t  smooth ROC 
curves a r e  obta inable  wi th  remarkably f e w  tr ials,  compared wi th  what would be 
requi red  i f  each of t h e  s i g n a l  l e v e l s  used were employed i n  s i n g l e - l e v e l  
experiments ,  
1967 meeting of t h e  Acous t ica l  Society of America. 
i s  presented  i n  t h e  appendix. 
A paper  desc r ib ing  t h e  r e s u l t s  i s  being presented  a t  t h e  A p r i l  
An a b s t r a c t  of t h e  paper 
H .  A Binaura l  E l e c t r i c a l  Model 
( L .  A .  Jeffress and A .  D .  Gaston, Jr.) 
A b i n a u r a l  e l e c t r i c a l  model has been cons t ruc ted  which appears t o  g ive  
masking-level d i f f e r e n c e s  similar t o  those wi th  human observers ,  and which shows 
a similar dependence on s i g n a l  dura t ion .  
presented  a t  t h e  A p r i l  meeting of t h e  Acous t ica l  Soc ie ty  of America. 
a b s t r a c t  of t h e  paper i s  presented i n  t h e  appendix.  
A paper desc r ib ing  t h e  model is  being 
An 
3 
APPENDIX 
ABSTRACT 
Performance of L i s t e n e r s  and of  an A r t i f i c i a l  E a r  on a Vigi lance  Problem 
by 
Charles  S .  Watson* 
It has been shown t h a t  a human l i s t e n e r ,  when d e t e c t i n g  a s i g n a l  i n  a no i se  
background, behaves as though he i s  measuring t h e  maximum amplitude of  t h e  output  
of  a s i g n a l  process ing  device  c o n s i s t i n g  o f  a f i l t e r ,  followed by a r e c t i f i e r  and 
a leaky i n t e g r a t o r .  This  r e s u l t  has  been u s e f u l  i n  bo th  measuring, and i n  pre-  
d i c t i n g ,  t h e  l i s t e n e r ' s  a b i l i t y  t o  d i s t i n g u i s h  between background noise  ( N )  and 
no i se  t o  which some s i g n a l  has been added ( S N ) ,  when t h e  l i s t e n e r s  are informed 
of  t h e  exac t  i n s t a n t  a t  which a s i g n a l  may be p re sen ted .  
not so  informed, t h e i r  problem becomes more d i f f i c u l t :  t h e  t a s k  i s  t h a t  which has  
been c a l l e d  v i g i l a n c e  o r  "watchstanding". 
When t h e  l i s t e n e r s  are 
Th i s  paper  a p p l i e s  t h e  f i l t e r - r e c t i f i e r - i n t e g r a t o r  model t o  t h e  v i g i l a n c e  
case .  It i s  concluded t h a t  here  t o o  t h e  l i s t e n e r  behaves as though he i s  
measuring t h e  output  o f  a simple s i g n a l  processor .  Here, however, he does so 
cont inuously,  and responds whenever t h e  output  exceeds some p r e s e l e c t e d  
c r i t e r i o n  v a l u e ,  
i n  such a case,  t h u s  must be i n f e r r e d  from d i s t r i b u t i o n s  of  response l a t e n c i e s .  
A technique  for us ing  response l a t ency  t o  estimate a real l i s t e n e r ' s  a b i l i t y  t o  
r e s o l v e  SN and N i s  proposed, based on t h e  assumption t h a t  amplitude and 
l a t e n c y  have t h e  same i n t e r - r e l a t i o n  f o r  a real  l i s t e n e r  as for t h e  model. 
D i s t r i b u t i o n s  of t h e  amplitudes a s s o c i a t e d  wi th  SN and N, 
T h i s  approach t o  t h e  gene ra l  problem of  d e t e c t i o n  when t h e  exac t  i n s t a n t  
of ( p o t e n t i a l )  s i g n a l  occurrence is  not de f ined  i s  q u i t e  simple,  bu t  it i s  
fundamentally d i f fe ren t  from some earlier approaches i n  t h e  contex t  of  d e t e c t i o n  
t h e o r y .  S p e c i f i c a l l y ,  t h i s  continuous d e t e c t i o n  problem has p rev ious ly  been 
*Present  address :  C e n t r a l  I n s t i t u t e  f o r  t h e  Deaf, S t .  Louis, Missour i .  
Paper  p re sen ted  a t  t h e  December 1966 Meeting of  t h e  American Assoc ia t ion  f o r  
t h e  Advancement of  Science,  Washington, D .  C .  
4 
I 
converted t o  a d i s c r e t e  one, by assuming that  t h e  l i s t e n e r  quant izes  time i n t o  
a series of  i n t e r v a l s ,  and t h a t  he makes a s e p a r a t e  dec i s ion  fo l lowing  each 
such i n t e r v a l .  Present  r e s u l t s  suggest t h a t  the behavior  of  bo th  an analog 
ear and of real l i s t e n e r s  may be descr ibed  q u i t e  w e l l  wi thout  r e s o r t i n g  t o  the 
t ime-quant iz ing assumptions.  
These conclusions were reached through a series of  experiments i n  which an 
e l e c t r o n i c  analog t o  t h e  aud i to ry  system as w e l l  as human l i s t e n e r s  were s t u d i e d .  
Both s imulated and real  l i s t e n e r s  de t ec t ed  t o n a l  s i g n a l s  i n  noise ,  w i t h  and 
without  def ined  observa t ion  i n t e r v a l s ,  The s i m i l a r i t y  of t h e  performance of  
real and analog l i s t e n e r s  appears  t o  be based i n  r e l a t i v e l y  simple r e l a t i o n s  
between amplitude and response l a t ency  f o r  bo th .  
5 
ABSTRACT 
ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA, NOVEMBER 1966 
Detec t ion  Performance and Two Parameters o f  t h e  Auditory St imulus.  
Thomas L .  Nichols  and Lloyd A.  Jeffress, Department of Psychology and 
Defense Research Laboratory,  The Univers i ty  of Texas, Austin,  Texas 78712. 
Four s u b j e c t s  were run i n  a convent ional  yes-no psychophysical  experiment 
i n  aud i to ry  masking. The s t imulus  cons is ted  of  a 250 msec b u r s t  of wide- 
band white  no i se .  On 50 percent  o f  t h e  t r ia ls ,  a 500 Hz s i n u s o i d a l  s i g n a l  
was added t o  t h e  no i se  b u r s t .  On each t r i a l  a record  was made of  t h e  s t imulus  
( N  or SN), t h e  s u b j e c t ' s  response ("yes" or  "no"), h i s  response la tency ,  
and two phys ica l  measures of  t h e  s t imulus .  These were obta ined  by us ing  
an e l e c t r o n i c  ear model c o n s i s t i n g  of a narrow-band f i l t e r  ( s imula t ing  the 
s u b j e c t ' s  c r i t i c a l  band), followed by a r e c t i f i e r  and two measuring dev ices .  
One of t h e s e  determined t h e  magnitude of t h e  l a r g e s t  envelope peak occurr ing  
dur ing  t h e  s t imulus  i n t e r v a l ,  and t h e  o the r ,  t h e  average vol tage  of t he  s t imulus  
envelope.  A series of  m u l t i p l e  l i n e a r  r eg res s ion  equat ions  were cons t ruc ted  
t o  determine t h e  independent con t r ibu t ion  of  each of  t he  e l e c t r i c a l  measurements 
t o  p r e d i c t i n g  t h e  na tu re  of t h e  s t imulus ( N  o r  S N ) ,  and the s u b j e c t ' s  response.  
The average vol tage  of  t h e  envelope was found t o  be t h e  more e f f i c i e n t  p r e d i c t o r  
o f  bo th  s t imulus  and response.  
and added l i t t l e  t o  t h a t  furn ished  by t h e  average vo l t age .  
by a c o n t r a c t  w i t h  t h e  Naval Ship Systems Command, Department of  t h e  N a v y ,  
and a g r a n t  from t h e  Nat iona l  Aeronautics and Space Adminis t ra t ion . ]  
The maximum amplitude was a poor p r e d i c t o r ,  
[Work supported 
6 
ABSTRACT 
ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA, APRIL 1967 
ROC Curves f o r  Mul t ip le  S igna l  Levels  i n  a Detec t ion  Task. Ann Tucker, 
Rand B .  Evans (nonmember), and Lloyd A .  Jeffress, Department of Psychology 
and Defense Research Laboratory,  The Univers i ty  o f  Texas, Aust in ,  Texas 78712. 
Seven s i g n a l  l e v e l s  were presented  t o  f o u r  observers  i n  a pseudo-random fash ion  
A 500 Hz t one  was used, and t h e  s i g n a l  du ra t ion  w a s  maintained a t  100 msec 
w i t h  a r i se -decay  t i m e  o f  10 msec. 
was used as t h e  masker. 
observers  were i n s t r u c t e d  t o  c l a s s i f y  or rate t h e  loudness  of  t h e  masked 
s i g n a l ,  by using one of 10 ordered push bu t tons .  On some t r i a l s  noise  a lone  
was p resen t ;  on t h e  remaining, (2E/N0)1/2 ranged from 2.0 t o  5 .0 .  ROC curves 
were p l o t t e d  f o r  each s i g n a l  l e v e l ,  and a remarkably small number of t r ia ls  
w a s  needed t o  y i e l d  s a t i s f a c t o r y  curves.  The m u l t i p l e - l e v e l  r a t i n g  procedure 
y i e l d s  smooth curves f o r  seven s i g n a l  l e v e l s  i n  about  t h e  same t i m e  p rev ious ly  
needed f o r  only one l e v e l .  The obse rve r ' s  t a s k ,  t o  r a t e  t h e  loudness  of the 
s t imulus ,  appeared t o  be s impler  t h a n  t h a t  of ear l ie r  s t u d i e s ,  i n  which he w a s  
asked t o  ra te  h i s  " c e r t a i n t y "  t h a t  a s i g n a l  w a s  p r e s e n t .  [Work supported by a 
c o n t r a c t  w i th  t h e  Naval Ship  Systems Command, Department o f  t h e  N a v y ,  and 
through a g ran t  from t h e  Nat iona l  Aeronaut ics  and Space Adminis t ra t ion.]  
Wide-band (lOO-3ooO Hz) continuous no i se  
The l i s t e n i n g  i n t e r v a l  w a s  i n d i c a t e d  by a l i g h t ,  and 
7 
ABSTRACT 
ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA, APRIL 1967 
An E l e c t r i c a l  Model f o r  Binaura l  Detec t ion .  Lloyd A .  Jeffress and 
Audley D .  Gaston, Jr.,  Department of  Psychology and Defense Research 
Laboratory,  The Univers i ty  of  Texas, Austin,  Texas 78712. An e l e c t r i c a l  
model t h a t  t a k e s  a running average of i n t e r a u r a l  time d i f f e r e n c e s  y i e l d s  
r e s u l t s  similar t o  human performance under several b i n a u r a l  condi t ions ,  
NOSfi, NnSO, and NOSm: wi th  continuous no i se  and ga ted  s i g n a l .  It shows a 
response t o  s i g n a l  d u r a t i o n  similar t o  t h a t  g iven  by people .  Previous models, 
such as t h e  t h e t a  model and t h e  E-C model, have no p rov i s ion  f o r  handl ing 
t h e  case  of t h e  continuous no i se  and gated s i g n a l ,  and l eave  t h e  e f f e c t  o f  
s i g n a l  du ra t ion  under t h e s e  condi t ions  unaccounted f o r .  The device  achieves  
i t s  measurement of  t i m e  d i f f e r e n c e  by amplifying and c l i p p i n g  t h e  inpu t s  from 
the two channels,  s u b t r a c t i n g  one from the o the r ,  and d i sca rd ing  d i f f e r e n c e s  of  
one s i g n  while  averaging those  of  t h e  o t h e r .  The vo l t age  be ing  
expressed by t h e  fo l lowing  equat ion:  
where t i s  t h e  time t h a t ,  say,  t h e  l e f t  ear - E = Ei 
averaged can be 
l e a d s  t h e  
r i g h t ,  T i s  t h e  pe r iod  of  t h e  c e n t e r  frequency of  t h e  narrow-band noise ,  
and E.  i s  t h e  magnitude of  t h e  r ec t angu la r  i npu t  vo l t age .  [Work supported 
by a c o n t r a c t  wi th  t h e  Naval Ship Systems Command, Department of t h e  N a v y ,  
and through a g ran t  from t h e  Nat iona l  Aeronaut ics  and Space Adminis t ra t ion . ]  
1 
a 
25 January 1967 
DISTRIBUTION LIST FOR 
Copy No. 
1 - 10 
11 - 35 
36 - 40 
41  
42 
43 
44 
45 
46 
47 
48 
49 
50 - 51 
Semiannual Report f o r  Contract  Nonr-3579(04) 
f o r  t h e  per iod  of 1 June 1966 through 30 November 1966 
and 
Q u a r t e r l y  S t a t u s  Report f o r  NASA Number R-129-@-030-017 
f o r  t h e  per iod  1 September 1966 through 30 November 1966 
Chief of  Naval Research 
Department of t h e  Navy 
Washington, D .  C .  20360 
A t t n :  D r .  G .  C .  Tolhurst ,  Code 454 
Off ice  of Grants  and Research Contract  
Off ice  of  Space Science and Appl ica t ions  
Nat iona l  Aeronautics and Space Adminis t ra t ion 
Washington, D .  C .  20546 
At tn :  Code SC 
Chief of  Human Performance Biotechnology Divis ion  
NASA Ames Research Center 
Moffet t  F i e ld ,  Ca l i fo rn ia  
Attn:  D r .  R .  M .  Pat ton 
Off ice  of Naval Research 
Resident Representa t ive  
The Univers i ty  of Texas 
2507 Main Building 
Aust in ,  Texas 78712 
R .  B .  Evans, DRL/UT 
A .  D .  Gaston, DRL/UT 
H .  A .  Gaylord, DRL/UT 
G .  H .  Jacobs,  DRL/UT 
L .  A .  J e f f r e s s ,  DRL/UT 
T .  L .  Nichols,  DRL/UT 
Ann Tucker, DRL/UT 
R .  H. Wallace, DRL/UT 
Library,  DRL/UT 


Conduct studies of auditory information processing emphasizing the application of signal detectability theory to the auditory sensory responses  Semiannual report, 1 Jun. - 30 Nov. 1966, Quarterly status report, 1 Sep. - 30 Nov. 1966

Conduct Studies of Auditory Information Processing Emphasizing the Application of Signal Detectability Theory to the Auditory Sensory Responses  Semiannual Report, 1 Jun. - 30 Nov. 1967, Quarterly Status Report, 1 Sep. - 30 Nov. 1967

Conduct Studies of Auditory Information Processing Emphasizing the Application of Signal Detectability Theory to the Auditory Sensory Responses Semiannual Report, 1 Jun. - 30 Nov. 1967, Quarterly Status Report, 1 Sep. - 30 Nov. 1967

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