Multimodal Integration of Time

2014 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 310-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin M. Bausenhart ◽  
Maria Dolores de la Rosa ◽  
Rolf Ulrich
Keyword(s):  
Duration Discrimination ◽  
Audiovisual Integration ◽  
Attention Allocation ◽  
Multimodal Integration ◽  
Perceptual Sensitivity ◽  
Duration Information ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Duration Discrimination Task ◽  
Temporal Judgments ◽  
Perceived Duration

Recent studies suggest that the accuracy of duration discrimination for visually presented intervals is strongly impaired by concurrently presented auditory intervals of different duration, but not vice versa. Because these studies rely mostly on accuracy measures, it remains unclear whether this impairment results from changes in perceived duration or rather from a decrease in perceptual sensitivity. We therefore assessed complete psychometric functions in a duration discrimination task to disentangle effects on perceived duration and sensitivity. Specifically, participants compared two empty intervals marked by either visual or auditory pulses. These pulses were either presented unimodally, or accompanied by task-irrelevant pulses in the respective other modality, which defined conflicting intervals of identical, shorter, or longer duration. Participants were instructed to base their temporal judgments solely on the task-relevant modality. Despite this instruction, perceived duration was clearly biased toward the duration of the intervals marked in the task-irrelevant modality. This was not only found for the discrimination of visual intervals, but also, to a lesser extent, for the discrimination of auditory intervals. Discrimination sensitivity, however, was similar between all multimodal conditions, and only improved compared to the presentation of unimodal visual intervals. In a second experiment, evidence for multisensory integration was even found when the task-irrelevant modality did not contain any duration information, thus excluding noncompliant attention allocation as a basis of our results. Our results thus suggest that audiovisual integration of temporally discrepant signals does not impair discrimination sensitivity but rather alters perceived duration, presumably by means of a temporal ventriloquism effect.

Bottom-Up Influences on Working Memory: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Distraction Varies with Distractor Strength

2004 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 249-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Berti ◽  
Urte Roeber ◽  
Erich Schröger
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Duration Discrimination ◽  
Distraction Effect ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Duration Discrimination Task

Abstract. The present study investigates bottom-up effects serving the optimal balance between focusing attention on relevant information and distractibility by potentially significant events outside the focus of attention. We tested whether distraction, indicated by behavioral and event-related brain potential (ERP) measures, varies with the strength of task-irrelevant deviances. Twenty subjects performed a tone-duration discrimination task (200 or 400 ms sinusoidal tones presented equiprobably). The stimuli were presented with frequent standard (p = 0.84; 1000 Hz) or infrequent deviant (p = 0.16) pitch. These task-irrelevant pitch changes consisted in a frequency increase/decrease of 1%, 3%, 5%, or 10%. Each of them resulted in prolonged reaction times (RT) in the duration discrimination task and elicited the MMN, P3a, and RON components of the ERP. Importantly, these measures did increase as a function of pitch deviance. Separating the individual trials on the 1% deviation level into trials with and without RT prolongation, i.e., behavioral distraction effect, revealed that both subgroups had similar MMN, but P3a and RON were confined to the trials with RT prolongation. Results are interpreted within a model relating preattentive deviance detection, distraction, and working memory.

scholarly journals Multiple Irrelevant Duration Information Affects the Perception of Relevant Duration Information: Interference With Selective Processing of Duration

i-Perception ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 204166952097322
Author(s):  
Hitomi Kawahara ◽  
Yuko Yotsumoto
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Processing ◽  
Target Stimulus ◽  
Target Duration ◽  
Visual Environment ◽  
Behavioral Experiments ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Duration Information ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Selective Processing ◽  
Perceived Duration

In the human visual environment, the ability to perceive only relevant duration is important for various activities. However, a relatively small number of studies have investigated how humans process multiple durations, in comparison with the processing of one or two durations. We investigated the effects of multiple irrelevant durations on the perception of relevant duration. In four behavioral experiments, the participants were instructed to pay attention to a target stimulus while ignoring the distractors; then, they reproduced the target duration. We manipulated three aspects of the distractors: number, duration range, and cortical distance to the target. The results showed that the presence of multiple irrelevant durations interfered with the processing of relevant duration in terms of the mean perceived duration and the variability of the perceived duration. The interference was directional; that is, longer (shorter) irrelevant durations made the reproduced durations longer (shorter). Moreover, the interference was not likely to depend on the cortical distance between the target and the distractors, suggesting an involvement of relatively higher cortical areas. These results demonstrate that multiple irrelevant duration information affects the temporal processing of relevant duration information and suggest that multiple independent clocks assigned to each of the durations may not exist.

scholarly journals One second is not a special time

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franklenin Sierra ◽  
David Poeppel ◽  
Alessandro Tavano
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Sampling Rate ◽  
Duration Discrimination ◽  
Temporal Information ◽  
Temporal Information Processing ◽  
Visual Events ◽  
The One ◽  
Timing Hypothesis ◽  
Special Time ◽  
Perceived Duration

The Distinct Timing Hypothesis (DTH) proposes that two different neuronal computations underlie temporal information processing below and above one second. We tested DTH predictions by varying the interval between two visual events (S and C) from 400 to 2000 ms. To verify whether attentive encoding processes play a role, we deployed three durations for S (120, 160, and 200 ms), which map to attentive sampling frequencies of 8.33, 6.25, and 5 Hz. The one-second divide does not modulate sensory precision in duration discrimination, while it determines whether participants will dilate/compress perceived S duration. However, all distortion effects disappear when S is extended to 200 ms, suggesting that a sampling rate of 5 Hz optimizes subjective decisions. Since the effects of the one-second divide on perceived duration are not hardwired, a single computational mechanism may underlie both sub-second and supra-second temporal scales for behavior, in flexible interaction with attentive encoding processes.

Neuro-Behavioral Correlates of Post-Deviance Distraction in Middle-Aged and Old Adults

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 178-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Getzmann ◽  
Michael Falkenstein ◽  
Patrick D. Gajewski
Keyword(s):  
Standard Stimulus ◽  
Duration Discrimination ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Deviant Stimulus ◽  
Behavioral Correlates ◽  
Old Adults ◽  
A Chain ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Middle Aged Adults

The presentation of a task-irrelevant deviant (novel) stimulus among otherwise repeated standard stimuli usually reduces performance not only for the deviant stimulus, but also for the standard following that deviant. Here, the so-called post-deviance distraction was investigated in 58 middle-aged and 52 old adults, using an auditory duration discrimination task and event-related potential (ERP) measures. After a deviant stimulus, the participants showed a decrease in performance in the subsequent standard stimulus. This effect was more pronounced in the old, than middle-aged, group. Relative to the standard stimuli preceding the deviant, post-deviant standards triggered a chain of mismatch negativity (MMN), P3a, and reorienting negativity (RON). While MMN and P3a did not differ in old and middle-aged adults, older participants showed a delayed RON. Assuming the RON to reflect processes of general task or feature reconfiguration and updating, these results suggest a delay in orienting-reorienting mechanisms as possible source of increased post-deviance distraction in elderly.

Duration Discrimination in Listeners With Cochlear Hearing Loss

2004 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Grose ◽  
Joseph W. Hall ◽  
Emily Buss
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Stimulus Change ◽  
Duration Discrimination ◽  
Center Frequency ◽  
Hearing Sensitivity ◽  
Cochlear Hearing Loss ◽  
Pure Tones ◽  
Tonal Stimuli ◽  
Temporal Judgments ◽  
Narrow Bands

This study examined the effects of cochlear hearing loss on the ability to discriminate increments in the duration of a stimulus under conditions where the frequency and/or amplitude of the stimulus change dynamically. Three stimulus types were used: pure tones, frequency-modulated tones, and narrow bands of noise. The carrier/center frequency of each 250-ms stimulus either remained constant at 1035 Hz or varied randomly from presentation to presentation across the frequency range 432–2804 Hz. Two groups of listeners participated: 9 with bilateral cochlear hearing loss and 7 with normal hearing sensitivity. The results showed no differences in performance between the 2 groups. However, both groups showed poorer duration discrimination for the conditions where the carrier/center frequency changed randomly than for the conditions where the carrier/center frequency remained constant. In addition, performance was poorer for the narrowband noise stimuli than for the tonal stimuli. This pattern of results suggests that across-frequency temporal judgments are more difficult than isofrequency temporal judgments, but that cochlear hearing loss does not exacerbate this difficulty per se.

Regularity Extraction and Application in Dynamic Auditory Stimulus Sequences

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 1664-1677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Bendixen ◽  
Urte Roeber ◽  
Erich Schröger
Keyword(s):  
Mismatch Negativity ◽  
Duration Discrimination ◽  
Involuntary Attention ◽  
Experimental Protocol ◽  
Auditory Oddball ◽  
Prolonged Reaction Time ◽  
Efficient Processing ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Duration Discrimination Task ◽  
Dynamic Stimulation

Traditional auditory oddball paradigms imply the brain's ability to encode regularities, but are not optimal for investigating the process of regularity establishment. In the present study, a dynamic experimental protocol was developed that simulates a more realistic auditory environment with changing regularities. The dynamic sequences were included in a distraction paradigm in order to study regularity extraction and application. Subjects discriminated the duration of sequentially presented tones. Without relevance to the task, tones repeated or changed in frequency according to a pattern unknown to the subject. When frequency repetitions were broken by a deviating tone, behavioral distraction (prolonged reaction time in the duration discrimination task) was elicited. Moreover, event-related brain potential components indicated deviance detection (mismatch negativity), involuntary attention switches (P3a), and attentional reorientation. These results suggest that regularities were extracted from the dynamic stimulation and were used to predict forthcoming stimuli. The effects were already observed with deviants occurring after as few as two presentations of a standard frequency, that is, violating a just emerging rule. Effects of regularity violation strengthened with the number of standard repetitions. Control stimuli comprising no regularity revealed that the observed effects were due to both improvements in standard processing (benefits of regularity establishment) and deteriorations in deviant processing (costs of regularity violation). Thus, regularities are exploited in two different ways: for an efficient processing of regularity-conforming events as well as for the detection of nonconforming, presumably important events. The present results underline the brain's flexibility in its adaptation to environmental demands.

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