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A deafening flash! Visual interference of auditory signal detection
Christopher Fassnidge1, Claudia Cecconi Marcotti2, Elliot Freeman1
1Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit, Department of Psychology, City, University of London, London, UK.
Consciousness and Cognition
|January 17, 2017
Summary
Some individuals experience sounds when seeing visual stimuli. This study found 22% of neurotypical adults reported this phenomenon, suggesting a link between visual and auditory processing and potential synesthesia development.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Sensory Perception
Background:
- Some individuals report experiencing auditory sensations in response to visual stimuli, a phenomenon related to synesthesia.
- The prevalence and perceptual reality of visually-evoked auditory sensations remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the prevalence and perceptual reality of visually-evoked auditory sensations in neurotypical adults.
- To explore the potential mechanisms and implications of this phenomenon, including its relationship to sensory processing and synesthesia.
Main Methods:
- Administered questionnaires to assess the occurrence of visually-evoked auditory sensations.
- Assessed participants' ability to discriminate visual sequences presented in a 'Morse-code' format.
- Examined the relationship between visual and auditory sensory discrimination abilities and the awareness of visually-evoked sounds.
Main Results:
- 22% of neurotypical adult participants reported hearing sounds with visual stimuli.
- Participants experiencing visually-evoked sounds showed enhanced discrimination of visual sequences.
- Visually-evoked auditory representations may occur subliminally, potentially disrupting auditory detection.
Conclusions:
- Learned associations between frequently correlated visual and auditory stimuli may contribute to the prevalence of visually-evoked auditory sensations.
- This phenomenon may represent a precursor to certain forms of synesthesia, highlighting the brain's capacity for cross-modal recoding.
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