Audition in the white rat. III. Absolute and relative intensity thresholds.

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Abstract
The absolute auditory thresholds of 22 white rats for pure tones of 8000, 4000, 2000 and 1000 cycles per sec. were measured in a typical discrimination box situation which had initially been very difficult to learn. At 8000 cycles the threshold was found to approach that of man, but became progressively higher as the frequency was lowered. The introduction of harmonic components in the tone apparently lowered the threshold appreciably at 1000 cycles. The differential intensity threshold at both 2000 and 4000 cycles, at a sensation level of 20 db., was high as compared with that of man. It was increased when the intensity was lowered to a 10 db. level. Consideration of these results, and the results of expts. on the rat, cat, and guinea pig by others, lends support to the hypothesis that the observed thresholds may be psychologically rather than physiologically detd., and are possibly specific to the discrimination situations in which they are measured. The evidence on this point, however, is not entirely conclusive.

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