Am 18. November 2023 06:54:27 schrieb "Richard F. Lyon" <dicklyon@xxxxxxx>:
I think the subject needs to feel like they're doing the job well, so starting easy (above threshold) makes sense. And they get to know very well what signal to listen for.If you approach from below, they don't know what signal to expect, so may not be in an "optimal detector" state of mind.DickOn Fri, Nov 17, 2023 at 9:19 PM Massimo Grassi <massimo.grassi@xxxxxxxx> wrote:Dear all,I was recently writing a paper about threshold estimation in hearing and at some point I stopped.Let suppose you are estimating a frequency discrimination threshold with a classic 2-down 1-up staircase rule (Levitt, 1971). Theoretically, you could approach the threshold from below or from above, I repeat this every year to 1st year students when I teach them the method of limits! In practice, however, in psychoacoustics we rarely-to-never approach the threshold from below.Is there any reason for this "tradition"? I know the psychometric function should be symmetric below and above threshold! But this does not explain the "tradition"!All the best from "it is almost winter" North East Italy.m