ERIC Number: EJ945651
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Oct
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0096-1523
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Temporal Ventriloquism in a Purely Temporal Context
Hartcher-O'Brien, Jessica; Alais, David
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, v37 n5 p1383-1395 Oct 2011
This study examines how audiovisual signals are combined in time for a temporal analogue of the ventriloquist effect in a purely temporal context, that is, no spatial grounding of signals or other spatial facilitation. Observers were presented with two successive intervals, each defined by a 1250-ms tone, and indicated in which interval a brief audiovisual stimulus (visual flash + noise burst) occurred later. In "test" intervals, the audiovisual stimulus was presented with a small asynchrony, while in "probe" intervals it was synchronous and presented at various times guided by an adaptive staircase to find the perceived temporal location of the asynchronous stimulus. As in spatial ventriloquism, and consistent with maximum likelihood estimation (MLE), the asynchronous audiovisual signal was shifted toward the more reliably localized component (audition, for all observers). Moreover, these temporal shifts could be forward or backward in time, depending on the asynchrony order, suggesting perceived timing is not entirely determined by physical timing. However, the critical signature of MLE combination--better bimodal than unimodal precision--was not found. Regardless of the underlying model, these results demonstrate temporal ventriloquism in a paradigm that is defined in a purely temporal context. (Contains 6 figures.)
Descriptors: Intervals, Computation, Observation, Research Methodology, Time Perspective, Maximum Likelihood Statistics, Models, Auditory Stimuli, Foreign Countries, Universities, Undergraduate Students, Adults, Experimental Psychology
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A