Abstract:
Previous work [Acker and Pastore, Percept. Psychophys. (in press)] using a discrimination version of the Garner paradigm found the E and G frequencies of a root position C-major chord to be integral, with both frequencies exhibiting significant redundancy gains in the correlated condition, but with the E exhibiting less interference in the orthogonal condition than the G. This finding raised the question of whether attention was better allocated to the E frequency specifically, or if it was a function of the middle spectral location. The current work addresses this question by evaluating discrimination of chord components in a first inversion chord, where the E is the lowest frequency component instead of the middle component. Subjects completed fixed, correlated, and orthogonal discrimination tasks for each frequency. Replicating the earlier results, both frequencies experienced significant redundancy gains in the correlated condition, and the E frequency again exhibited less interference in the orthogonal condition. These results will be discussed in terms of attention being more easily allocated to the E frequency specifically, regardless of spectral location. [Work supported by AFSOR.]