TONE AND NOISE PERCEPTION IN THE WHITE RAT 



JOSEPH PETERSON 



The University of Minnesota 



In the field of human psychology, studies in audition seem 

 gradually to be accumulating evidence in favor of a resonance 

 theory of perception. In a previous paper I have pointed out 

 briefly some of this evidence. 1 It has been shown by Ewald 

 that a thin rubber membrane nearly as small in its dimensions 

 as the human basilar membrane can be made to take up sym- 

 pathetically the vibrations of a tone. In this experiment the 

 membrane was suspended in a liquid as is the basilar membrane. 

 It seems -highly probable at present that either the basilar mem- 

 brane or some other structure in the cochlea can serve as a 

 resonator of a low degree of elasticity, and can respond sym- 

 pathetically to periodic vibrations and to vibrations that do 

 not depart far from periodicity. That different parts of this 

 resonating structure respond to tones of different frequencies 

 is an hypothesis that gets support directly and indirectly from 

 various kinds of facts, some of which have been suggested in 

 the paper mentioned above. Resonators in the ear, however, 

 do not necessarily imply specific energy of the nerve elements 

 in the cochlea, and vice versa. 



Evidence for or against the specific energy theory of hearing 

 has frequently been derived -from experiments upon animals, 

 coupled with the destruction of certain parts of their cochleas. 

 In the paper to which reference has been made I pointed out 

 the fact that Kalisher's results, now well known, were not to 

 be relied upon. The experiments of Johnson 2 have completely 

 disproved the validity of Kalisher's conclusions. Johnson's 

 experiments, as well as those by Hunter, 3 make the evidence 

 both for and against the specific energy theory, obtained by 

 destruction of sections of the cochlea, practically worthless, even 



1 The place of stimulation in the cochlea versus frequency as a direct deter- 

 miner of pitch, Psychol. Rev., XX, 1913, 312ff. Cf. Hardesty, Am. Jr. Anal.. 

 18, 471ff. 



2 Audition and habit formation in the dog, Behavior Monographs, 2, no. 3, 1912. 



3 The auditory sensitivity of the white rat, Jour. An. Behavior, 4, 1914, 215-222. 

 and 5, 1915, 312-329. 



