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Multisensory prior entry
C Spence1, D I Shore, R M Klein
1Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, England. charles.spence@psy.ox.ac.uk
Journal of Experimental Psychology. General
|January 5, 2002
Summary
Attending to a sensory modality, like vision, speeds perception of stimuli in that modality. This study provides strong evidence for multisensory prior entry, influencing temporal order judgments (TOJs).
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Sensory Perception
Background:
- The impact of sensory attention on stimulus perception remains debated despite extensive research.
- Previous studies often suffer from methodological limitations, hindering definitive conclusions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of attending to specific sensory modalities or spatial locations on perception.
- To provide robust evidence for or against the phenomenon of multisensory prior entry.
Main Methods:
- Four experiments utilized a novel methodology to assess temporal order judgments (TOJs).
- Participants judged the order of visual and tactile stimuli presented at varying onset asynchronies.
- Stimuli were presented to the left and/or right sides of space.
Main Results:
- The findings offer the strongest evidence to date supporting multisensory prior entry.
- Attentional biases favoring the visual modality were observed.
- A bias toward stimuli presented on the right side of space was also confirmed.
Conclusions:
- Sensory attention demonstrably influences the speed of stimulus perception, supporting prior entry.
- These results have significant implications for understanding human and animal cognition and sensory processing.