SPATIAL MODULATION OF AUDIOTACTILE TEMPORAL ORDER JUDGMENTS DEPENDS ON WHETHER STIMULI PRESENTED FROM THE FRONT OR REAR

Massimiliano Zampini, Department of Cognitive Sciences and Education, University of Trento, Italy

Abstract
SPATIAL MODULATION OF AUDIOTACTILE TEMPORAL ORDER JUDGMENTS DEPENDS ON WHETHER STIMULI PRESENTED FROM THE FRONT OR REAR
Massimiliano Zampini1,2 Norimichi Kitagawa2,3, David I. Shore4, & Charles Spence2

1. University of Trento, Italy; 2. University of Oxford, England;
3. NTT Corporation, Japan; 4. McMaster University, Canada


ABSTRACT
Performance in audiovisual and visuotactile TOJ tasks is typically worse when the stimuli in the two sensory modalities are presented from the same location rather than from different locations. Here, we investigated whether audiotactile TOJs exhibit a similar spatial modulation in front and rear space. Participants made unspeeded TOJs regarding pairs of auditory and electrocutaneous stimuli presented at varying SOAs. In separate experiments, the auditory stimuli were presented from loudspeakers placed on the left and right in front of the participants or just behind their head. The electrocutaneous stimuli were presented to either index finger or earlobe directly in front of the loudspeakers on either the same or opposite side. The results revealed a spatial modulation of audiotactile TOJs (i.e., higher accuracy when the stimuli were presented from different positions than from the same position) when the stimuli were presented from behind the participants’ head, but crucially not when the stimuli were presented from in front of participants. These results provide support for recent suggestions, based on both neurophysiological and neuropsychological data, that audiotactile spatial interactions may be more prevalent in the region behind the head than in the region in front of the head.

KEY WORDS: Multisensory interactions; Audition; Touch; Front vs. rear space; Temporal order judgments.

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