Auditory Pattern Memory: Mechanisms of Tonal Sequence Discrimination by Human Observers.

Abstract

A two-process model of pattern discrimination was developed to describe how tonal sequences are processed, stored, and discriminated by the human auditory system. The model was tested in tasks in which subjects were required to discriminate between the frequency patterns encoded in two sequences of tones. The experimental results strongly supported the assumptions of a trace and context coding mechanism and indicated that the trace mechanism is relatively insensitive to temporal transformations made to the stimulus. An attempt to model the pattern discrimination mechanism with specific computational algorithms was less successful. A technique was developed to assess the manner in which information is accumulated from elements of an auditory or visual stimulus. Results indicate that the technique may be useful in the design of display systems. Keywords: Hearing, Sense organs, Algorithms, Auditory patterns, Auditory memory, Temporal uncertainty, Models of auditory signal processing.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 30, 1987
Accession Number
ADA190337

Entities

People

  • Robert D. Sorkin

Organizations

  • Purdue University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Algorithms
  • Auditory Signals
  • Classification
  • Computer Programming
  • Detection
  • Frequency
  • Intervals
  • Observers
  • Perception
  • Probability
  • Psychology
  • Scientific Research
  • Security
  • Signal Detection
  • Signal Processing
  • Time Intervals

Fields of Study

  • Biology
  • Psychology

Readers

  • Speech Processing/Speech Recognition.
  • Theoretical Analysis.