April 2011
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7 Reads
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2 Citations
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
Two experiments measured the illusory continuity of a frequency glide through a noise burst. Expt. 1 used a 2I‐2AFC procedure to measure detection of the (target) portion of the frequency glide that overlapped in time with the noise, as a function of noise level. The noise had a frequency notch around the frequency range of the target. The portions of the glide preceding and following the noise (flankers) could be present or absent. Performance at low‐ and intermediate‐noise levels was poorer with present than with absent flankers (at high noise levels, performance was at chance for both conditions). This suggests that listeners either perceptually restored the missing target or that the presence of the flankers resulted in some informational masking of the target. In Exp. 2 listeners rated directly their perception of continuity of the frequency glide for the same flanker conditions of Exp. 1. When the target was absent, continuity ratings increased as noise level increased, and did not differ between intermediate‐ and high‐noise levels. These results suggest that illusory continuity occurred when the noise level was not high enough to mask the target entirely.