Auditory Stimuli Disrupt Visual Detection in a Visuospatial Task
- Chris Robinson, The Ohio State University, Newark, Ohio, United States
- Dylan Laughery, The Ohio State University, Newark, Ohio, United States
AbstractThe current study used an eye tracker to examine how auditory input affects the latency of visual fixations and speeded responses on a Serial Response Time Task (SRTT). In Experiment 1, participants viewed 12 visual stimuli that appeared in different locations on a computer monitor and the same sequence repeated throughout the experiment. The visual sequence was either presented in silence or paired with uncorrelated sounds (sounds were not predictive of visual target location). Participants made more fixations and were more likely to fixate on the visual stimuli when visual sequences were presented in silence. Participants in Experiment 2 were presented with the same sequences, but they also had to determine if each visual stimulus was red or blue. Auditory stimuli delayed the latency of first fixations and discriminating the images was also delayed. The current findings are consistent with a potential mechanism underlying auditory dominance effects.