Human Discrimination of Auditory Duration

A series of experiments measured human ability to discriminate between durations of auditory signals presented in a noise background. Independent variables were the signal voltage, the “base” duration T, and the increment duration ΔT. Separate experiments assessed the effect of each of these on discrimination. A decision-theoretical model is presented, based on a “counting mechanism,” which operates on impulses generated over the relevant durations. The source of these impulses is assumed to be random. Limitations on performance come from uncertainty regarding the end points of the time interval and from limited memory. The decision processes underlying the model are presented as a general theory of duration discrimination.