Abstract
A previous study has shown that diverting attention from binocular rivalry to a visual distractor task results in a slowing of rivalry alternation rate between simple orthogonal orientations. Here, we investigate whether the slowing of visual perceptual alternations will occur when attention is diverted to an auditory distractor task, and we extend the investigation by testing this for two kinds of binocular rivalry stimuli and for the Necker cube. Our results show that doing the auditory attention task does indeed slow visual perceptual alternations, that the slowing effect is a graded function of attentional load, and that the attentional slowing effect is less pronounced for grating rivalry than for house/face rivalry and for the Necker cube. These results are explained in terms of supramodal attentional resources modulating a high-level interpretative process in perceptual ambiguity, together with a role for feedback to early visual processes in the case of binocular rivalry.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 929-935 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Vision Research |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 May 2010 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Cite this
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Attending to auditory signals slows visual alternations in binocular rivalry. / Alais, David; van Boxtel, Jeroen J.; Parker, Amanda; van Ee, Raymond.
In: Vision Research, Vol. 50, No. 10, 01.05.2010, p. 929-935.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Attending to auditory signals slows visual alternations in binocular rivalry
AU - Alais, David
AU - van Boxtel, Jeroen J.
AU - Parker, Amanda
AU - van Ee, Raymond
PY - 2010/5/1
Y1 - 2010/5/1
N2 - A previous study has shown that diverting attention from binocular rivalry to a visual distractor task results in a slowing of rivalry alternation rate between simple orthogonal orientations. Here, we investigate whether the slowing of visual perceptual alternations will occur when attention is diverted to an auditory distractor task, and we extend the investigation by testing this for two kinds of binocular rivalry stimuli and for the Necker cube. Our results show that doing the auditory attention task does indeed slow visual perceptual alternations, that the slowing effect is a graded function of attentional load, and that the attentional slowing effect is less pronounced for grating rivalry than for house/face rivalry and for the Necker cube. These results are explained in terms of supramodal attentional resources modulating a high-level interpretative process in perceptual ambiguity, together with a role for feedback to early visual processes in the case of binocular rivalry.
AB - A previous study has shown that diverting attention from binocular rivalry to a visual distractor task results in a slowing of rivalry alternation rate between simple orthogonal orientations. Here, we investigate whether the slowing of visual perceptual alternations will occur when attention is diverted to an auditory distractor task, and we extend the investigation by testing this for two kinds of binocular rivalry stimuli and for the Necker cube. Our results show that doing the auditory attention task does indeed slow visual perceptual alternations, that the slowing effect is a graded function of attentional load, and that the attentional slowing effect is less pronounced for grating rivalry than for house/face rivalry and for the Necker cube. These results are explained in terms of supramodal attentional resources modulating a high-level interpretative process in perceptual ambiguity, together with a role for feedback to early visual processes in the case of binocular rivalry.
KW - Audiovisual interactions
KW - Binocular rivalry
KW - Perceptual ambiguity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77952008990&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.visres.2010.03.010
DO - 10.1016/j.visres.2010.03.010
M3 - Article
VL - 50
SP - 929
EP - 935
JO - Clinical Vision Sciences
JF - Clinical Vision Sciences
SN - 0042-6989
IS - 10
ER -