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A cross-modal aftereffect: auditory displacement following adaptation to visual motion
W H Ehrenstein1, A H Reinhardt-Rutland
1Institut für Arbeitsphysiologie, Dortmund University, Germany. ehrenst@arb-phys.uni-dortmund.de
Perceptual and Motor Skills
|February 1, 1996
Summary
Visual motion can alter sound localization. This study combined visual and auditory motion aftereffects, finding that adapting to visual motion caused subsequent static sound localization to shift, demonstrating cross-modal sensory adaptation.
Area of Science:
- Auditory perception
- Visual perception
- Cross-modal sensory integration
Background:
- Perceived sound location shifts with visual motion.
- Auditory motion also causes localization aftereffects.
- Previous research has not combined these visual and auditory aftereffects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the combined effects of visual and auditory motion aftereffects on sound localization.
- To determine if adaptation to visual motion influences the perception of static sound sources.
- To challenge the assumption that sensory aftereffects are confined to their original modality.
Main Methods:
- Participants adapted to horizontal visual motion (clockwise or counterclockwise) from a surrounding drum.
- Following visual adaptation, participants localized static sound sources in darkness.
- Sound source localization was performed by adjusting a pointer's direction.
Main Results:
- Visual motion adaptation induced small but consistent auditory displacements.
- These auditory displacements were in the direction opposite to the adapting visual motion.
- The results demonstrated a cross-modal aftereffect between vision and audition.
Conclusions:
- Sensory aftereffects can indeed cross modalities, specifically from vision to audition.
- This finding challenges the implicit belief that aftereffects are strictly unimodal.
- The observed visual-auditory aftereffect aligns with existing sensorineural data.