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Tactile "capture" of audition.
Anne Caclin1, Salvador Soto-Faraco, Alan Kingstone
1University of Oxford, England.
Perception & Psychophysics
|July 23, 2002
Summary
Tactile stimuli can alter sound localization. Synchronous touch biased perceived sound location, demonstrating the first evidence of tactile capture of audition, even without focused attention.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Sensory Perception
Background:
- Cross-modal interactions influence sensory localization.
- Visual stimuli are known to bias auditory and tactile perception.
- The influence of tactile stimuli on auditory localization remains less understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if spatially displaced tactile stimuli affect auditory localization.
- To explore cross-modal perceptual interactions between touch and hearing.
- To determine if tactile stimulation captures auditory perception.
Main Methods:
- Participants performed sound localization tasks (left-right discrimination).
- Auditory stimuli were presented alone or with synchronous/asynchronous tactile stimulation to fingertips.
- Attention was manipulated by directing focus to the tactile modality.
Main Results:
- Synchronous tactile stimulation biased sound localization toward the tactile source.
- Asynchronous tactile stimulation did not significantly affect sound localization.
- Directing attention to tactile input did not enhance the cross-modal bias.
Conclusions:
- Auditory localization can be captured by synchronous tactile stimuli.
- This study provides the first evidence of tactile capture of audition.
- Cross-modal interactions between touch and hearing occur even without focused attention.