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Electrophysiological evidence for the "missing link" in crossmodal attention
J J McDonald1, W A Teder-Sälejärvi, D Heraldez
1University of California, San Diego, USA. jmcd@sfu.ca
Summary
Involuntary attention to a visual cue impacts sound processing, especially at short intervals. This suggests attention control involves integrated brain mechanisms, not just separate senses.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Involuntary attention shifts to sensory events typically influence subsequent stimuli across different senses.
- However, visual cues sometimes fail to affect auditory processing, posing a question about crossmodal attention mechanisms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how involuntary attention to a visual flash affects the processing of subsequent sounds.
- To examine the neural underpinnings of crossmodal attention using event-related brain potentials (ERPs).
- To control for confounding factors like stimulus-response compatibility and criterion shifts.
Main Methods:
- Participants were presented with a nonpredictive visual cue followed by an auditory target.
- Behavioral responses and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded.
- Stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between visual cue and auditory target was varied (100-300 ms).
Main Results:
- Orienting attention to the visual cue location modulated behavioral responses to auditory targets.
- Neural responses, as measured by ERPs, were also modulated by the involuntary attention shift.
- These effects were significant at short SOAs (100-300 ms).
Conclusions:
- Involuntary attention shifts to visual stimuli can influence auditory processing, particularly when stimuli are close in time.
- The findings support the hypothesis that crossmodal attention is governed by supramodal (brain-wide) mechanisms.
- Modality-specific attention control is less likely for these involuntary attentional shifts.