Auditory Masking Patterns in the Goldfish (Carassius Auratus): Psychophysical Tuning Curves1

Abstract

The masking effects of tones on the detection of auditory signals were studied in goldfish using the psychophysical tuning curve paradigm. For signals below 350 Hz, masking is an inverse function of the frequency separation between masker and signal, a finding consistent with previous masking studies on fish, birds and mammals. For signals above 350 Hz, masking peaks occur in the 350 Hz region and at the frequency of the signal. Quantitative comparisons with recent neural tuning curves for goldfish saccular neurons suggest that the filtering observed may be determined by mechanical frequency selectivity below 350 Hz, but this was not indicated by a neural analysis of temporal patterns above this range.