Auditory motion affects visual motion perception in a speeded discrimination task.

Full Abstract

Transient auditory stimuli have been shown to influence the perception of ambiguous 2D visual motion displays (the bouncing-disks effect; e.g. Sekuler et al. in Nature 385:308, 1997). The question addressed here was whether continuous moving auditory stimuli can also influence visual motion perception under the same experimental conditions. In Experiment 1, we used a modification of Sanabria et al.'s (Exp Brain Res 157:537-541, 2004) paradigm (involving an indirect behavioural measure of the bouncing-disks effect), in which the 2D visual display was presented together with either a brief tone, a continuous moving sound, or in the absence of any form of auditory stimulation. Crucially, the results showed that, together with the effect of the brief tone on bouncing trials, the presence of the continuous moving sound speeded-up participants' responses on streaming trials as compared to the brief tone or no sound conditions. The results of a second experiment revealed that the effect of the continuous moving sound reported in Experiment 1 was not caused simply by the presence of continuous auditory stimulation per se.

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Author information

Author/s: Sanabria, Daniel (D); Lupiáñez, Juan (J); Spence, Charles (C);

Affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. daniel(-atsign-)ugr.es

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Experimental brain research. Experimentelle Hirnforschung. Expérimentation cérébrale (Exp Brain Res), published in Germany. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Apr; vol 178 (issue 3) : pp 415-21

Dates: Created 2007/03/20; Completed 2007/07/31; Revised 2008/02/15;

PMID: 17372657, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Acoustic Stimulation
Adolescent
Adult
Auditory Perception - physiology
Brain - physiology
Discrimination Learning - physiology
Female
Humans
Male

Motion Perception - physiology
Neuropsychological Tests
Orientation - physiology
Photic Stimulation
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Reaction Time - physiology
Sound Localization - physiology
Space Perception - physiology
Time Factors

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