A nonspatial sound modulates processing of visual distractors in a flanker task
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A nonspatial sound modulates processing of visual distractors in a flanker task Cailey A. Salagovic 1 & Carly J. Leonard 1 Accepted: 17 September 2020 # The Psychonomic Society, Inc. 2020
Abstract Successful navigation of information-rich, multimodal environments involves processing both auditory and visual information. The extent to which information within each modality is processed varies because of many factors, but the influence of auditory stimuli on the processing of visual stimuli in these multimodal environments is not well understood. Previous research has shown that a preceding sound leads to decreased reaction times in visual tasks (Bertelson, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 19(3), 272–279, 1967). The current study examines whether a nonspatial, task-irrelevant sound additionally alters processing of visual distractors that flank a central target. We used a version of a flanker task in which participants responded to a central letter surrounded by two irrelevant flanker letters. When these flankers are associated with a conflicting response, a congruency effect occurs such that reaction time to the target is slowed (Eriksen & Eriksen, Perception & Psychophysics, 16(1), 143–149, 1974). In two experiments using this task, results showed that a preceding tone caused general speeding of reaction time across flanker types, consistent with alerting. The tone also caused decreased variation in response time. Critically, the tone modulated the congruency effect, with a greater speeding for congruent flankers than for incongruent flankers. This suggests that the influence of flanker identity was more intense after tone presentation, consistent with a nonspatial sound increasing perceptual and/or response-association processing of flanking stimuli. Keywords Attention . Multisensory Processing . Visual perception
Processing sensory information is vital for normal functioning, however the immense amount of input that the brain receives at any one time cannot all be processed to the same degree. Generally, attention functions to prioritize a subset of stimuli from the environment to be processed further, but information from task-irrelevant stimuli also has a strong influence on the system. Studies have shown evidence against a strict model of discrete processing stages gated by an early locus of attentional selection (e.g., Moore & Egeth, 1997; Vogel, Luck, & Shapiro, 1998). Early support for this idea came from Erik Eriksen and colleagues, who proposed a “continuous flow” model of processing in which information accumulation in the visual system about the target may occur in concurrence with response associations about distractors (C. W. Eriksen & Schultz, 1979). Given that humans are adapted
* Cailey A. Salagovic [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Denver, Campus Box 173, PO Box 173364, Denver, CO 80217-3364, USA
to live in environments with simultaneous input from multiple sensory modalities, it is of particular interest how this continuous flow of p
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