Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Masking is typically defined in terms of the threshold change in signal level resulting from the presence of a neighboring noise. By contrast with “energetic” masking, informational masking is defined in terms of the threshold change in statistical structure resulting from the presence of a neighboring signal of the same amplitude. Forward masking, backward masking, combined masking, etc., may be defined in terms of the temporal relations of the neighboring to the informational sequences. Forward informational masking is shown to be appreciably smaller than backward or combined informational masking. The threshold change in statistical structure tends to be proportional to the ratio of the durations of the neighboring to the informational sequences.
Irwin Pollack (1975) studied this question.