Let R be a local ring, and let M and N be finitely generated
R-modules such that M has finite complete intersection dimension. In this
paper we define and study, under certain conditions, a pairing using the
modules \Ext_R^i(M,N) which generalizes Buchweitz's notion of the Herbrand
diference. We exploit this pairing to examine the number of consecutive
vanishing of \Ext_R^i(M,N) needed to ensure that \Ext_R^i(M,N)=0 for all
i≫0. Our results recover and improve on most of the known bounds in the
literature, especially when R has dimension at most two