Variability in forward masking

["Jesteadt, Walt" <jesteadt@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>       I am looking for some help with the psychoacoustics literature.  It
> has been my impression that people have found a lot of variability in
> forward masking data, but I cannot find any actual discussion of that,
> with the exception of a comment by Bertrand Delgutte in a chapter on
> physiology related to psychoacoustics.  Bertrand qualified that statement
> in an earlier email to me, noting that he was primarily referring to
> pulsation threshold data rather than forward masking data.  Brian Moore
> has noted in an earlier email that there are comments concerning
> variability in papers dealing with narrowband noise forward maskers and
> confusion effects.  I am looking for more general cases, if any exist.
>
>       I have several sets of data for which I can compare reliability and
> individual differences in forward and simultaneous masking for the same
> subjects and, if anything, forward masking shows greater reliability and
> smaller individual differences.  I found that surprising, but if Bertrand
> and I are the only people who are surprised, it is not particularly
> newsworthy.  If you know of any discussions about noise and variability in
> forward masking data, please send me a reference.  Thanks.
>
> Walt Jesteadt
>