scholarly journals Identification of Visual Stimuli is Improved by Accompanying Auditory Stimuli: The Role of Eye Movements and Sound Location

Perception ◽  
10.1068/p3126 ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 795-810 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie C Doyle ◽  
Robert J Snowden

Can auditory signals influence the processing of visual information? The present study examined the effects of simple auditory signals (clicks and noise bursts) whose onset was simultaneous with that of the visual target, but which provided no information about the target. It was found that such a signal enhances performance in the visual task: the accessory sound reduced response times for target identification with no cost to accuracy. The spatial location of the sound (whether central to the display or at the target location) did not modify this facilitation. Furthermore, the same pattern of facilitation was evident whether the observer fixated centrally or moved their eyes to the target. The results were not altered by changes in the contrast (and therefore visibility) of the visual stimulus or by the perceived utility of the spatial location of the sound. We speculate that the auditory signal may promote attentional ‘disengagement’ and that, as a result, observers are able to process the visual target sooner when sound accompanies the display relative to when visual information is presented alone.

1993 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 1578-1584 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. DiZio ◽  
C. E. Lathan ◽  
J. R. Lackner

1. In the oculobrachial illusion, a target light attached to the unseen stationary hand is perceived as moving and changing spatial position when illusory motion of the forearm is elicited by brachial muscle vibration. Our goal was to see whether we could induce apparent motion and displacement of two retinally fixed targets in opposite directions by the use of oculobrachial illusions. 2. We vibrated both biceps brachii, generating illusory movements of the two forearms in opposite directions, and measured any associated changes in perceived distance between target lights on the unseen stationary hands. The stability of visual fixation of one of the targets was also measured. 3. The seen distance between the stationary targets increased significantly when vibration induced an illusory increase in felt distance between the hands, both with binocular and monocular viewing. 4. Subjects maintained fixation accuracy equally well during vibration-induced illusory increases in visual target separation and in a no-vibration control condition. Fixation errors were not correlated with the extent or direction of illusory visual separation. 5. These findings indicate that brachial muscle spindle signals can contribute to an independent representation of felt target location in head-centric coordinates that can be interrelated with a visual representation of target location generated by retinal and oculomotor signals. 6. A model of how these representations are interrelated is proposed, and its relation to other intersensory interactions is discussed.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah J Stewart ◽  
Dawei Shen ◽  
Nasim Sham ◽  
Claude Alain

AbstractSelective attention to sound object features such as pitch and location is associated with enhanced brain activity in ventral and dorsal streams, respectively. We examined the role of these pathways in involuntary orienting and conflict resolution using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants were presented with two tones that may share, or not, the same non-spatial (frequency) or spatial (location) auditory features. In separate blocks of trials, participants were asked to attend to sound frequency or sound location and ignore the change in the task-irrelevant feature. In both attend-frequency and attend-location tasks, response times were slower when the task-irrelevant feature changed than when it stayed the same (involuntary orienting). This behavioural cost coincided with enhanced activity in the prefrontal cortex and superior temporal gyrus (STG). Conflict resolution was examined by comparing situations where the change in stimulus features was congruent (both features changed) and incongruent (only one feature changed). Participants were slower and less accurate for incongruent than congruent sound features. This congruency effect was associated with enhanced activity in the prefrontal cortex, and was greater in the right STG and medial frontal cortex during the attend-location than during the attend-frequency task. Together, these findings do not support a strict division of ‘labour’ into ventral and dorsal streams, but rather suggest interactions between these pathways in situations involving changes in task-irrelevant sound feature and conflict resolution. These findings also validate the Test of Attention in Listening task by revealing distinct neural correlates for involuntary orienting and conflict resolution.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Kroll ◽  
Monika Mak ◽  
Jerzy Samochowiec

Reaction times are often used as an indicator of the efficiency of the processes in thecentral nervous system. While extensive research has been conducted on the possibleresponse time correlates, the role of eye movements in visual tasks is yet unclear. Here wereport data to support the role of eye movements during visual choice reaction time training.Participant performance, reaction times, and total session duration improved. Eyemovementsshowed expected changes in saccade amplitude and resulted in improvementin visual target searching.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Or Yizhar ◽  
Galit Buchs ◽  
Benedetta Heimler ◽  
Doron Friedman ◽  
Amir Amedi

ABSTRACTPerceiving the spatial location and physical dimensions of objects that we touch is crucial for goal-directed actions. To achieve this, our brain transforms skin-based coordinates into a reference frame by integrating visual and proprioceptive cues, a process known as tactile remapping. In the current study, we examine the role of proprioception in the remapping process when information from the more dominant visual modality is withheld. We developed a new visual-to-touch sensory substitution device and asked participants to perform a spatial localization task in three different arm postures that included posture switches between blocks of trials. We observed that in the absence of visual information novel proprioceptive inputs can be overridden after switching postures. This behavior demonstrates effective top-down modulations of proprioception and points to the unequal contribution of different sensory modalities to tactile remapping.


2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Rigato ◽  
Enrica Menon ◽  
Valentina Di Gangi ◽  
Nathalie George ◽  
Teresa Farroni

Faces convey many signals (i.e., gaze or expressions) essential for interpersonal interaction. We have previously shown that facial expressions of emotion and gaze direction are processed and integrated in specific combinations early in life. These findings open a number of developmental questions and specifically in this paper we address whether such emotional signals may modulate the behavior in a following gaze context. A classic spatial cueing paradigm was used to assess whether different facial expressions may cause differential orienting response times and modulate the visual response to a peripheral target in adults and in 4-month-old infants. Results showed that both adults and infants oriented towards a peripheral target when a central face was gazing in the direction of the target location. However, in adults this effect occurred regardless of the facial expression displayed by the face. In contrast, in infants, the emotional facial expressions used, at least in the current study, did not facilitate the attention shift but tended to hold infants’ attention.


2006 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 483-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristy L. Lindemann ◽  
Colleen Reichmuth Kastak ◽  
Ronald J. Schusterman
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Vincenzo Butticè ◽  
Silvio Vismara

AbstractNowadays equity crowdfunding plays an important role in the entrepreneurial finance markets. To better understand the functioning of the industry, it is important to consider the entire equity crowdfunding process and all the actors involved. Equity crowdfunding platforms match indeed the demand of capital from entrepreneurial ventures with the supply of capital by investors. This manuscript is a first step in this direction, by (1) comparing equity crowdfunding with traditional sources of entrepreneurial finance; (2) discussing the potential and the perils of equity crowdfunding for inclusivity and democratization; (3) highlighting the role of visual information in digital finance; and (4) providing first insights on the industrial dynamics in equity crowdfunding. The paper gives researchers and practitioners orientation about recent developments in equity crowdfunding literature and provides relevant research directions.


Author(s):  
Lorenzo Cangiano ◽  
Sabrina Asteriti

AbstractIn the vertebrate retina, signals generated by cones of different spectral preference and by highly sensitive rod photoreceptors interact at various levels to extract salient visual information. The first opportunity for such interaction is offered by electrical coupling of the photoreceptors themselves, which is mediated by gap junctions located at the contact points of specialised cellular processes: synaptic terminals, telodendria and radial fins. Here, we examine the evolutionary pressures for and against interphotoreceptor coupling, which are likely to have shaped how coupling is deployed in different species. The impact of coupling on signal to noise ratio, spatial acuity, contrast sensitivity, absolute and increment threshold, retinal signal flow and colour discrimination is discussed while emphasising available data from a variety of vertebrate models spanning from lampreys to primates. We highlight the many gaps in our knowledge, persisting discrepancies in the literature, as well as some major unanswered questions on the actual extent and physiological role of cone-cone, rod-cone and rod-rod communication. Lastly, we point toward limited but intriguing evidence suggestive of the ancestral form of coupling among ciliary photoreceptors.


Author(s):  
Raymond Vanholder ◽  
Angel Argiles ◽  
Joachim Jankowski ◽  

Abstract The uremic syndrome is a complex clinical picture developing in the advanced stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD) resulting in a myriad of complications and a high early mortality. This picture is to a significant extent defined by retention of metabolites and peptides that with a preserved kidney function are excreted or degraded by the kidneys. In as far as those solutes have a negative biological/biochemical impact, they are called uremic toxins. Here, we describe the historical evolution of the scientific knowledge about uremic toxins and the role played in this process by the European Uremic Toxin Work Group (EUTox) during the last two decades. The earliest knowledge about a uremic toxin goes back to the early 17th century when the existence of what later would appear to be urea was recognized. It cost about two further centuries to better define the role of urea and its link to kidney failure and one more century to identify the relevance of post-translational modifications caused by urea such as carbamoylation. The knowledge progressively extended, especially from 1980 on, by the identification of more and more toxins and their adverse biological/biochemical impact. Progress of knowledge was paralleled and impacted by evolution of dialysis strategies. The last two decades, when Insights grew exponentially, coincides with the foundation and activity of EUTox. In the final section we summarize the role and accomplishments of EUTox and the part it is likely to play in future action, which should be organized around focus points like biomarker and potential target identification, intestinal generation, toxicity mechanisms and their correction, kidney and extracorporeal removal, patient-oriented outcomes, and toxin characteristics in acute kidney injury and transplantation.


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