The present study concerned the perceptual processing of complex auditory stimuli in 10 children (M age = 8.1) as compared to 10 young adults (M age = 19.3) and 10 older adult subjects (M age = 54.2). The auditory stimulus used was 10 sec. of rock music (Led Zeppelin, 1969). All three groups provided numerical responses to nine intensities of the rock music stimulus (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 dB above threshold). Analysis showed that the children reported a wider range of numerical responses than both adult groups. The mean numerical responses for the children ranged from .54 to 54.24. For the young adults the range was .76 to 11.37, and for the older subjects it was 1.6 to 23.31. Results suggest that the children were not bound by the same set of rules as the adults with regard to magnitude estimation scaling of the loudness of the rock music stimulus. Their internal scaling mechanisms appeared to be more flexible and broader based than those of the adults who participated in this study.

The present study was concerned with the perceptual processing of complex auditory stimuli in ten children (M_ age=8.1) as compared to ten young adults (M_ age=19.3) and ten older adult subjects (M_ age=54.2). The auditory stimulus used was 10 s of rock music [Led Zeppelin, CD Recording No. 19127−2 (Atlantic Recording Group, New York 1969)]. All three groups provided numerical responses to nine intensity levels of the rock music stimulus (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90 dB above threshold). Results showed that the children demonstrated a wider range of numerical responses than both adult groups. The range of mean numerical responses for the children was 0.54 to 54.24. For the young adults the range was 0.76 to 11.37, and for the older subjects it was 1.6 to 23.31. Results suggest that the children were not bound by the same set of rules as the adults in regard to magnitude estimation scaling of the loudness of the rock music stimulus. Their internal scaling mechanisms appeared to be more flexible and broader based than those of the adults who participated in this study.