Evaluation of similarity effects in informational masking

The degree of similarity between signal and masker in informational masking paradigms has been hypothesized to contribute to informational masking. The present study attempted to quantify "similarity" using a discrimination task. Listeners discriminated various signal stimuli from a multitone complex and then detected the presence of those signals embedded in a multitone informational masker. Discriminability negatively correlated with detection threshold in an informational masking experiment, indicating that similarity between signal and the masker quality contributed to informational masking. These results suggest a method for specifying relevant signal attributes in informational masking paradigms involving similarity manipulations.