EFFECTS OF NOISES OF HIGH AND LOW FREQUENCY ON BEHAVIOUR

Abstract

Three groups of subjects worked for two sessions in noise at a five-choice serial reaction task. During one session the noise was restricted to frequencies above 2000 c.p.s., and during the other to frequencies below. The high frequency noise gave more errors in performance, although the difference was significant only at the highest intensity of 100 dB. When reaction times were measured to the same noises, the first reaction of a series with the same type of stimulus was slower when the stimulus was low intensity and low frequency. With high frequency or high intensity stimuli this was not so. It thus appears that sounds more likely to interfere with work also produce a faster reaction when themselves acting as signals, confirming a view already advanced about noise effects ; that the effect is due to competition between various stimuli to control response.