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Abstract

This paper examines what mechanisms underlie auditory perceptual learning. Fifteen normal hearing adults performed two-alternative, forced choice, pure tone frequency discrimination for four sessions. External variability was introduced by adding a zero-mean Gaussian random variable to the frequency of each tone. Measures of internal noise, encoding efficiency, bias, and inattentiveness were derived using four methods (model fit, classification boundary, psychometric function, and double-pass consistency). The four methods gave convergent estimates of internal noise, which was found to decrease from 4.52 to 2.93 Hz with practice. No group-mean changes in encoding efficiency, bias, or inattentiveness were observed. It is concluded that learned improvements in frequency discrimination primarily reflect a reduction in internal noise. Data from highly experienced listeners and neural networks performing the same task are also reported. These results also indicated that auditory learning represents internal noise reduction, potentially through the re-weighting of frequency-specific channels.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Copyright 2013 Acoustical Society of America. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the Acoustical Society of America. The following article appeared in Jones, P. R. , Moore, D., Amitay, S. and Shub, D. E. (2013). Reduction of internal noise in auditory perceptual learning. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA), 133(2), pp. 970-981. and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4773864.
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology R Medicine > RC Internal medicine R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry R Medicine > RF Otorhinolaryngology
Departments:	School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Optometry & Visual Sciences
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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