Spiegel M F, Watson C S
J Acoust Soc Am. 1981 Jan;69(1):223-30. doi: 10.1121/1.385342.
Estimates of the effectiveness of selective auditory attention were obtained by adjusting the level of a target tone, which was presented as one 40-msec component in a ten-tone sequential pattern. When the levels of target and nontarget tones were the same, frequency-discrimination thresholds (delta f/f) following prolonged training varied from 0.01-0.02 for minimal-uncertainty testing conditions to 0.1-0.2 under high trial-to-trial stimulus uncertainty. The functions relating frequency discrimination to target-tone level are widely separated for the two conditions; comparing them, we conclude that the effects of selective auditory attention can be equated to a 50-dB variation in signal level. Patterns that had been well-learned during the minimal-stimulus (remembered standard) procedure. The results of these latter experiments are consistent with a "top-down" processing interpretation in which well-learned patterns are first identified to locate the portions requiring further resolution.
通过调整目标音调的电平来获得选择性听觉注意力有效性的估计值，该目标音调以十音调序列模式中的一个40毫秒成分呈现。当目标音调和非目标音调的电平相同时，长时间训练后的频率辨别阈值（δf/f）在最小不确定性测试条件下为0.01 - 0.02，在高逐次试验刺激不确定性下为0.1 - 0.2。在这两种条件下，将频率辨别与目标音调电平相关的函数有很大差异；通过比较它们，我们得出结论，选择性听觉注意力的效果相当于信号电平有50分贝的变化。在最小刺激（记忆标准）程序中已被充分学习的模式。后一组实验的结果与“自上而下”的处理解释一致，即在这种解释中，首先识别出已充分学习的模式，以定位需要进一步分辨的部分。
