Audition and vision share spatial attentional resources, yet attentional load does not disrupt audiovisual integration

Human information processing is limited by attentional resources. Two questions that are discussed in multisensory research are (1) whether there are separate spatial attentional resources for each sensory modality and (2) whether multisensory integration is influenced by attentional load. We investigated these questions using a dual task paradigm: Participants performed two spatial tasks (a multiple object tracking [‘MOT’] task and a localization [‘LOC’] task) either separately (single task condition) or simultaneously (dual task condition). In the MOT task, participants visually tracked a small subset of several randomly moving objects. In the LOC task, participants either received visual, tactile, or redundant visual and tactile location cues. In the dual task condition, we found a substantial decrease in participants’ performance and an increase in participants’ mental effort (indicated by an increase in pupil size) relative to the single task condition. Importantly, participants performed equally well in the dual task condition regardless of whether they received visual, tactile, or redundant multisensory (visual and tactile) location cues in the LOC task. This result suggests that having spatial information coming from different modalities does not facilitate performance, thereby indicating shared spatial attentional resources for the tactile and visual modality. Also, we found that participants integrated redundant multisensory information optimally even when they experienced additional attentional load in the dual task condition. Overall, findings suggest that (1) spatial attentional resources for the tactile and visual modality overlap and that (2) the integration of spatial cues from these two modalities occurs at an early pre-attentive processing stage.

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Attention Mediates the Effect of Context-Relevant Social

Timing & Time Perception ◽

10.1163/22134468-00002032 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 3 (3-4) ◽

pp. 189-200 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

N. Srinivasan ◽

S. Tewari ◽

M. Makwana ◽

N. P. Hopkins

Keyword(s):

Social Meaning ◽

Single Task ◽

Attentional Resources ◽

Attentional Load ◽

Timing Task ◽

The Social ◽

Task Conditions ◽

Religious Festival ◽

The City

In everyday life we perceive events as having durations. Recent research suggests that the labeling of a stimulus influences the experience of its duration. Plausibly, the social meaning attributed to a stimulus impacts upon the amount of attention allocated to it, with greater attention resulting in better encoding and longer reproduction times. However, direct evidence for the role of attention in this effect of social meaning on duration reproduction is lacking. The present study addresses this issue directly. Eighty-four male Hindu pilgrims attending theKumbh Melain India listened to an ambiguous sound clip and reproduced its duration in a prospective timing task. The context-relevant social meaning of this sound clip was manipulated through attributing the sound to either the religious festival or busy city streets. Attentional load was manipulated by asking half the participants to perform a concurrent task. Reproduced durations were longer in the Mela compared to the City condition but only when participants completed a single task. The finding that mere labeling of the stimulus impacts duration judgments in a prospective paradigm in the single-task but not the dual-task conditions suggests that the effect of social meaning is indeed mediated through the deployment of attentional resources.

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Sustained Auditory Attentional Load Decreases Audiovisual Integration in Older and Younger Adults

Neural Plasticity ◽

10.1155/2021/4516133 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 ◽

pp. 1-10

Author(s):

Yanna Ren ◽

Yawei Hou ◽

Jiayu Huang ◽

Fanghong Li ◽

Tao Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Visual Information ◽

Race Model ◽

Audiovisual Integration ◽

Auditory Presentation ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Attentional Load ◽

Audiovisual Stimuli ◽

Effects Of Aging ◽

Load Conditions

The modulation of attentional load on the perception of auditory and visual information has been widely reported; however, whether attentional load alters audiovisual integration (AVI) has seldom been investigated. Here, to explore the effect of sustained auditory attentional load on AVI and the effects of aging, nineteen older and 20 younger adults performed an AV discrimination task with a rapid serial auditory presentation task competing for attentional resources. The results showed that responses to audiovisual stimuli were significantly faster than those to auditory and visual stimuli ( AV > V ≥ A , all p < 0.001 ), and the younger adults were significantly faster than the older adults under all attentional load conditions (all p < 0.001 ). The analysis of the race model showed that AVI was decreased and delayed with the addition of auditory sustained attention ( no _ load > load _ 1 > load _ 2 > load _ 3 > load _ 4 ) for both older and younger adults. In addition, AVI was lower and more delayed in older adults than in younger adults in all attentional load conditions. These results suggested that auditory sustained attentional load decreased AVI and that AVI was reduced in older adults.

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Semantic Congruency Modulates the Effect of Attentional Load on the Audiovisual Integration of Animate Images and Sounds

i-Perception ◽

10.1177/2041669520981096 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 204166952098109

Author(s):

Qingqing Li ◽

Qiong Wu ◽

Yiyang Yu ◽

Fengxia Wu ◽

Satoshi Takahashi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Critical Role ◽

Semantic Content ◽

Visual Presentation ◽

Audiovisual Integration ◽

Attentional Processes ◽

Semantic Congruency ◽

Attentional Load ◽

Animal Identification ◽

Animal Images

Attentional processes play a complex and multifaceted role in the integration of input from different sensory modalities. However, whether increased attentional load disrupts the audiovisual (AV) integration of common objects that involve semantic content remains unclear. Furthermore, knowledge regarding how semantic congruency interacts with attentional load to influence the AV integration of common objects is limited. We investigated these questions by examining AV integration under various attentional-load conditions. AV integration was assessed by adopting an animal identification task using unisensory (animal images and sounds) and AV stimuli (semantically congruent AV objects and semantically incongruent AV objects), while attentional load was manipulated by using a rapid serial visual presentation task. Our results indicate that attentional load did not attenuate the integration of semantically congruent AV objects. However, semantically incongruent animal sounds and images were not integrated (as there was no multisensory facilitation), and the interference effect produced by the semantically incongruent AV objects was reduced by increased attentional-load manipulations. These findings highlight the critical role of semantic congruency in modulating the effect of attentional load on the AV integration of common objects.

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Evaluating the concepts of weak and subcognitive integration - an experimental study using vibrotactile sensory augmentation for the blind

10.31234/osf.io/jgx6q ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Anna Ricarda Luther

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Processing ◽

Subjective Experience ◽

Angular Rotation ◽

Sensory Augmentation ◽

Directional Information ◽

Attentional Resources ◽

Completion Task ◽

Attentional Load ◽

Straight Line ◽

Triangle Completion

Navigating in foreign surroundings necessitates peak concentration for blind travellers. Yet, most navigational aids heavily rely on attentional resources as well as on audition. Audition is a modality of supreme importance for the blind, allowing to react to cues of the immediate environment. Thus, it would be highly beneficial for a navigational aid for the blind to not or only partially rely on attentional resources and be easily interpreted and integrated into behaviour. Following the sensorimotor contingency (SMC) theory, which is embedded in the theoretical framework of embodiment, such endeavour has the potential to succeed by employing sensory augmentation devices. According to SMC theory, statistic regularities termed sensorimotor contingencies coupling action and perception are constitutive of conscious perception. Consequentially, since those regularities differ in between modality, also the qualitative experience of different modalities differ. Following this line of thought, new SMCs can be created through sensory augmentation devices and learned by exploring the SMC. The objective of this study is to further investigate if and to what extent such sensory augmentation device can be integrated into behaviour. Therefore, the weak integration hypothesis and the sub-cognitive processing hypothesis as established by Nagel et al. (2005) will be employed to evaluate the integration according to their criteria.Eleven congenitally and adventitiously blind adult subjects were provided with vibrotactile directional information of the magnetic north around the waist through a device termed naviBelt for seven weeks. At the beginning and at the middle of the study the integration of the signal of five participants was assessed using a battery of behavioural tests. These tests consisted of a straight-line-walking task, an angular rotation task and a triangle completion task. Furthermore, throughout the period of study all participants completed preliminary, weekly and final questionnaires, inspired by Kärcher et al. (2012). The questionnaires allowed to gain a more holistic picture of the subjective experience and the self-assessed benefits of the belt. In addition, two deaf-blind participants were provided with the belt for three to four weeks and answered questionnaires adjusted to their needs.The straight-line-walking task showed instant improvements in path stabilization when provided with the belt. In two participants characteristic behaviour of the sub-cognitive processing hypothesis is obtained. An overall improvement independent of whether the belt is worn or not is especially evident after the training period in the angular rotation task. This indicates an enhanced direction estimation accuracy, which is highly related to the understanding of the belt signal. Evidence for enhanced path integration and navigational skills through the belt can be found in the results of the triangle completion task. For two participants the performance improved even with an additional attentional load, hinting towards sub-cognitive processing.Overall, the data supports the weak integration hypothesis and points towards the sub-cognitive processing hypothesis and thus show that SMCs can be learned, which is in line with the theory of embodiment. Crucially, the study further exemplifies how such integration into behaviour can be of great benefit as assistive device for blind and deaf-blind.

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When Less Is More: Evidence for a Facilitative Cathodal tDCS Effect in Attentional Abilities

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_00248 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 24 (9) ◽

pp. 1826-1833 ◽

Cited By ~ 61

Author(s):

Michal Weiss ◽

Michal Lavidor

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Performance ◽

Brain Stimulation ◽

Cortical Neurons ◽

Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽

Attention Allocation ◽

Less Is More ◽

Attentional Resources ◽

Attentional Load ◽

Posterior Parietal ◽

Cathodal Stimulation

Many previous studies reported that the hyperpolarization of cortical neurons following cathodal stimulation (in transcranial direct current stimulation) has resulted in cognitive performance degradation. Here, we challenge this assumption by showing that cathodal stimulation will not always degrade cognitive performance. We used an attentional load paradigm in which irrelevant stimuli are processed only under low but not under high attentional load. Thirty healthy participants were randomly allocated into three interventional groups with different brain stimulation parameters (active anodal posterior parietal cortex [PPC], active cathodal PPC, and sham). Cathodal but not anodal stimulation enabled flanker processing even in high-loaded scenes. A second experiment was carried out to assert whether the improved flanker processing under cathodal stimulation is because of altered attention allocation between center and surround or, alternatively, enhanced attentional resources. In this experiment, the flanker was presented centrally. The results of Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1's finding of improved flanker processing. We interpret the results from these two experiments as evidence for the ability of cathodal stimulation to enhance attentional resources rather than simply change attention allocation between center and periphery. Cathodal stimulation in high-loaded scenes can act like a noise filter and may in fact enhance cognitive performance. This study contributes to understanding the way the PPC is engaged with attentional functions and explains the cathodal effects, which thus might lead to more efficient brain stimulation protocols.

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Brain Areas Specific for Attentional Load in a Motion-Tracking Task

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/089892901753294347 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 1048-1058 ◽

Cited By ~ 129

Author(s):

Jorge Jovicich ◽

Robert J. Peters ◽

Christof Koch ◽

Jochen Braun ◽

Linda Chang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Motion Tracking ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Tracking Task ◽

General Role ◽

Attentional Resources ◽

Attentional Load ◽

Fmri Study ◽

Posterior Parietal ◽

Response Profiles ◽

Different Response

Although visual attention is known to modulate brain activity in the posterior parietal, prefrontal, and visual sensory areas, the unique roles of these areas in the control of attentional resources have remained unclear. Here, we report a dissociation in the response profiles of these areas. In a parametric functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, subjects performed a covert motion-tracking task, in which we manipulated “attentional load” by varying the number of tracked balls. While strong effects of attention—independent of attentional load—were widespread, robust linear increases of brain activity with number of balls tracked were seen primarily in the posterior parietal areas, including the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and superior parietal lobule (SPL). Thus, variations in attentional load revealed different response profiles in sensory areas as compared to control areas. Our results suggest a general role for posterior parietal areas in the deployment of visual attentional resources.

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Auditory Attentional Load Modulates Audiovisual Integration During Auditory/Visual Discrimination

Advances in Cognitive Psychology ◽

10.5709/acp-0328-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 17 (3) ◽

pp. 193-202

Author(s):

Yanna Ren ◽

Nengwu Zhao ◽

Junyuan Li ◽

Junhao Bi ◽

Tao Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Visual Discrimination ◽

Audiovisual Integration ◽

Attentional Load

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Priming Effects on Subsequent Episodic Memory: Testing Attentional Accounts

10.31234/osf.io/urb4k ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Alexander Kaula ◽

Richard Henson

Keyword(s):

Episodic Memory ◽

Alternative Explanation ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Attentional Resource ◽

Memory Encoding ◽

Priming Effects ◽

Attentional Resources ◽

Attentional Load ◽

Background Context ◽

Alternative Resource

Previous work has shown that priming improves subsequent episodic memory, i.e, memory for the context in which an item is presented is improved if that item has been seen previously. We previously attributed this effect of “Priming on Subsequent Episodic Memory” (PSEM) to a sharpening of the perceptual/conceptual representation of an item, which improves its associability with an (arbitrary) background context, by virtue of increasing prediction error (Greve et al, 2017). However, an alternative explanation is that priming reduces the attentional resources needed to process an item, leaving more residual resources to encode its context. We report four experiments that tested this alternative, resource-based hypothesis, based on the assumption that reducing the available attentional resources by a concurrent load would reduce the size of the PSEM. In no experiment did we find a significant interaction between attentional load and priming on mean memory performance, and nor did we find a consistent correlation across participants between priming and PSEM, failing to support the resource account. However, formal modelling revealed that a resource account is not, in fact, inconsistent with our data, by confirming that nonlinear (sigmoidal) resource-performance functions can reproduce any interaction with load, and, more strikingly, any pattern of correlation between priming and PSEM. This work reinforces not only the difficulty of refuting attentional resource accounts of memory encoding, but also questions the value of load manipulations more generally.

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High attentional load enhances the susceptibility to non-speech audiovisual illusions

10.31234/osf.io/8j2gb ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Georgios Michail ◽

Julian Keil

Keyword(s):

Multisensory Integration ◽

Sensory Processing ◽

Repeated Measures ◽

Attentional Processes ◽

Attentional Resources ◽

Attentional Load ◽

Sensory Modalities ◽

Audiovisual Stimuli ◽

Post Hoc

The role of attentional processes in the integration of input from different sensory modalities is complex and multifaceted. Importantly, little is known about how simple, non-linguistic stimuli are integrated when the resources available for sensory processing are exhausted. We studied this question by examining multisensory integration under conditions of limited endogenous attentional resources. Multisensory integration was assessed through the sound-induced flash illusion (SIFI), in which a flash presented simultaneously with two short auditory beeps is often perceived as two flashes, while attentional load was manipulated using an n-back task. A one-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed that attentional load had a significant effect on the perception of the illusion while post-hoc tests showed that participants’ illusion perception was increased in high compared to low attentional load conditions. Additional analysis demonstrated that this effect was not related to a response bias. These finding provides evidence that the integration of non-speech, audiovisual stimuli is enhanced under high attentional load and it therefore supports the notion that top-down attentional control plays an essential role in multisensory integration.

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