Diotic and dichotic discrimination of binary sequences

Binary‐sequence discrimination was compared for diotic and dichotic stimuli. Sequences consisted of 4 to 32 wideband‐noise pulses with pulse duration ranging from 8 to 32 ms. Diotic sequences were distinguished by pulse‐amplitude pattern, while dichotic patterns differed by their sequence of ear of presentation. Discrimination was measured as a function of the number of pattern elements that differed between the standard and comparison sequences with temporal location of the altered pulses randomly selected on each trial. Additional fringe pulses bracketed the target sequences to avoid onset and offset cuing. Neither diotic nor dichotic performance was monotonic with the ratio of the number of altered to sequence pulses, with greater exception noted in the dichotic results. Except at the shortest pulse duration, diotic performance was significantly better than that obtained in the dichotic condition with similar pulse duration and numbers of altered and sequence pulses. For the range of stimulus parameter...