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Audio-visual speech timing sensitivity is enhanced in cluttered conditions.
Warrick Roseboom1, Shin'ya Nishida, Waka Fujisaki
1School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. w.roseboom@psy.uq.edu.au
Plos One
|April 16, 2011
Summary
Audio-visual timing perception is more precise than previously thought. Adding extra visual speech streams, even if asynchronous, improves the brain's ability to detect synchronous audio-visual speech events.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Auditory-Visual Perception
Background:
- Audio-visual events are often perceived as synchronous, even with timing discrepancies.
- This suggests potentially limited precision in audio-visual timing judgments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the precision of audio-visual timing perception.
- To determine if temporal clutter enhances or degrades timing precision.
Main Methods:
- Comparing timing sensitivity for isolated audio-visual speech streams.
- Introducing additional, temporally offset, asynchronous visual speech streams alongside synchronous audio-visual speech.
Main Results:
- Precision in identifying synchronous audio-visual speech is enhanced by the presence of asynchronous visual speech streams.
- Timing perception appears to be shaped by selective grouping processes.
Conclusions:
- Enhanced precision in temporally cluttered environments is possible.
- Perceptual grouping of audio-visual events may explain improved timing accuracy.
- Findings challenge the notion of inherently poor audio-visual timing precision.
