Crossmodal effects on auditory and visual grouping mechanisms
Poster Presentation

Laura Cook
University of Western Australia, School of Psychology

David Van Valkenburg
University of Western Australia, School of Psychology

     Abstract ID Number: 40
     Full text: Not available
     Last modified: May 31, 2007
     Presentation date: 07/06/2007 10:00 AM in Quad Maclauren Hall
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Abstract
Studies involving crossmodal effects on auditory and visual grouping mechanisms are rare. O’Leary and Rhodes (1984) found that when visual stimuli are perceived as two groups, simultaneously presented auditory stimuli are more likely to perceptually separate into two groups, and vice versa. Similarly, Vroomen and de Gelder (2000) found that a repeating tone, segregated from surrounding tones, made a coincident visual target easier to detect. Our first study tested whether the presentation of a singular flashing light, spatially separated from a group of three other lights, could have an impact on the perceptual organization of a simultaneous four-tone sequence. No effect was found. Our second study focussed on the temporal organization of the groups using similar methods. The ‘temporal ventriloquism effect’ (Bertelson & Aschersleben, 2003) suggests that a visual stimulus is often perceived as being temporally closer to an auditory stimulus if it occurs within certain proximity; this paradigm allowed us to examine whether groups of stimuli (rather than independent tones or lights) are susceptible to this same effect. Results confirmed that the temporal position of the perceptually segregated tone affected the perceived temporal position of the singular flashing light.