On the discriminative control of concurrent responses: the relations among response frequency, latency, and topography in auditory generalization

Abstract

Human subjects were used in a study of auditory generalization following multiple-response discrimination training. The relations observed among stimulus intensity, response probability, and response latency were invariant with respect to whether the two vocal responses conditioned were topographically discrete, as in one experiment, or topographically continuous, as in another. The major findings were:1. The probabilities associated with a specific response were maximal over several stimulus values at the extreme ends of the continuum, then dropped sharply at stimuli intermediate to the initial S(D)'s as the probability of the alternative response increased.2. Overall response latency was inversely related to the relative frequency of the two responses at each stimulus value. When the two responses were most nearly equal in probability, latencies were maximal; when one response had close to unit or zero probability, latencies were minimal.3. Analysis of the latencies of the two responses, taken separately, revealed: (a) an increase in latency as the difference between the test stimulus and the initial S(D) increased; (b) a sharp discontinuity in the latency gradient and reversal in trend at intermediate stimulus intensities; and (c) at a given stimulus value, latencies associated with the stochastically dominant response were consistently shorter than those of the nondominant response.4. No changes in response topography (fundamental frequency) were correlated with the characteristic changes in probability and latency during stimulus generalization.