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Crossmodal links between vision and touch in covert endogenous spatial attention
1Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, England. charles.spence@psy.ox.ac.uk
Summary
Spatial attention links vision and touch. Covert attention shifts in one sense influence the other, enhancing processing speed for expected stimuli in external space.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Sensory Integration
Background:
- Covert endogenous spatial attention is crucial for processing information efficiently.
- Understanding crossmodal interactions in attention is key to explaining sensory integration.
- Previous research has explored unisensory spatial attention, but crossmodal links require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the crossmodal links between vision and touch within covert endogenous spatial attention.
- To determine if spatial attention shifts in one modality influence attention in another.
- To examine how directing attention across modalities affects performance.
Main Methods:
- Six experiments were conducted using speeded discrimination tasks.
- Participants responded to visual and tactile targets presented unpredictably on either side.
- Spatial expectations were manipulated to probe attentional shifts in both visual and tactile modalities.
Main Results:
- Faster discrimination responses were observed for targets on the expected side across both vision and touch.
- When attention was directed to a side in one modality, attention shifted in the other modality as well.
- Attentional benefits were greater when visual and tactile attention were directed to the same spatial location.
Conclusions:
- Vision and touch are linked within covert endogenous spatial attention.
- Spatial attention is not strictly modality-specific, demonstrating crossmodal influences.
- These crossmodal links operate in external space, regardless of hand position.