A transient processing deficit following selection of an auditory target

Two experiments were conducted to examine the possibility that a transient processing deficit might result following selection of an auditory target. In both experiments, listeners were presented with a sequence of tones and required to make separate detection judgments, one regarding a target and the second regarding a subsequent probe. The target was presented following a variable number of tones, and the probe was presented in one of the seven or eight possible temporal positions following the target. The experiments differed only in that in Experiment I the first post-target item could be either a distracter tone or a probe, whereas in Experiment 2 the first post-target item was replaced by a silent period. In both experiments, a deficit in processing of the probe was apparent when it was presented in one of the first few positions following the target.