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Published on: August 22, 2012
Multisensory perception and attention in school-age children
Ayla Barutchu1, Sarah Toohey2, Mohit N Shivdasani3
1Balliol College, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3BJ, UK.
Insights
This study reveals how attention impacts multisensory processing in school-age children. Specific attention types, like dual-tasking, enhance verbal illusions (McGurk effect), while sustained auditory attention boosts nonverbal illusions (Stream-Bounce effect).
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Auditory and Visual Perception
Background:
- Attention's role in modulating multisensory processes is established in adults and infants.
- This relationship remains under-explored in school-aged children.
- Understanding this interplay is crucial for cognitive development research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between specific attention abilities and multisensory processing in children aged 7-13 years.
- To examine how visuospatial, auditory sustained, and dual-task attention influence the McGurk and Stream-Bounce effects.
- To determine if age or intellectual abilities solely explain these attention-multisensory relationships.
Main Methods:
- Assessed attention using the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-Ch) subscales: Sky Search (visuospatial), Score (auditory sustained), and SSDT (audiovisual dual task).
- Measured multisensory processing via the McGurk effect and the Stream-Bounce effect.
- Analyzed correlations between attention scores and the magnitude of illusory percepts.
Main Results:
- Perception of both multisensory illusions generally increased with age.
- The McGurk effect was stronger in children with higher audiovisual dual-task attention (SSDT).
- The Stream-Bounce effect was more pronounced in children with higher auditory sustained attention (Score).
Conclusions:
- Specific attentional skills differentially modulate distinct multisensory illusions in school-aged children.
- The findings suggest that the integration of sensory information is influenced by the type of attention required.
- These relationships are not solely attributable to age or general intellectual capacity.
Abstract:
Although it is well known that attention can modulate multisensory processes in adults and infants, this relationship has not been investigated in school-age children. Attention abilities of 53 children (ages 7-13 years) were assessed using three subscales of the Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-Ch): visuospatial attention (Sky Search [SS]), auditory sustained attention (Score), and audiovisual dual task (SSDT, where the SS and Score tasks are performed simultaneously). Multisensory processes were assessed using the McGurk effect (a verbal illusion where speech perception is altered by vision) and the Stream-Bounce (SB) effect (a nonverbal illusion where visual perception is altered by sound). The likelihood of perceiving both multisensory illusions tended to increase with age. The McGurk effect was significantly more pronounced in children who scored high on the audiovisual dual attention index (SSDT). In contrast, the SB effect was more pronounced in children with higher sustained auditory attention abilities as assessed by the Score index. These relationships between attention and the multisensory illusory percepts could not be explained solely by age or children's intellectual abilities. This study suggests that the interplay between attention and multisensory processing depends on both the nature of the multisensory task and the type of attention needed to effectively merge information across the senses.
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