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Updated: Jun 9, 2025

MPI CyberMotion Simulator: Implementation of a Novel Motion Simulator to Investigate Multisensory Path Integration in Three Dimensions
Published on: May 10, 2012
Crossmodal correspondence of elevation/pitch and size/pitch is driven by real-world features
John McEwan1, Ada Kritikos2, Mick Zeljko2
1School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia. John.mcewan@uq.edu.au.
Abstract:
Crossmodal correspondences are consistent associations between sensory features from different modalities, with some theories suggesting they may either reflect environmental correlations or stem from innate neural structures. This study investigates this question by examining whether retinotopic or representational features of stimuli induce crossmodal congruency effects. Participants completed an auditory pitch discrimination task paired with visual stimuli varying in their sensory (retinotopic) or representational (scene integrated) nature, for both the elevation/pitch and size/pitch correspondences. Results show that only representational visual stimuli produced crossmodal congruency effects on pitch discrimination. These results support an environmental statistics hypothesis, suggesting crossmodal correspondences rely on real-world features rather than on sensory representations.
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