Auditory intensity discrimination in the parakeet (M e l o p s i t t a c u s u n d u l a t u s)

Abstract

Three parakeets were trained by a method of avoidance conditioning to respond to intensity differences in successsively occurring tone bursts. Intensity difference limens were obtained at six sensation levels of a 2.86 kHz tone. The relative intensity difference limens (ΔI) for the parakeet were larger than similarly reported measures for man and other mammals at all sensation levels tested. Calculations of the Weber fractions at each sensation level tested showed that Weber’s law holds for the parakeet at sensation levels above 50 dB. Subject Classification: 80.50; 65.75, 65.50.