Visual motion which evokes self-motion perception alters temporal order judgment of sounds.

Wataru Teramoto, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, JSPS Research Fellow

Abstract
We examined the effect of visual motion which evoked self-motion perception on the perceived temporal-order of auditory events. Our previous study revealed the alteration of the perceived temporal-order of ?visual? events depending on the direction of apparent self-motion (Teramoto et al., 2004), but it was not clear whether the same phenomenon was observed with the events in a non-visual modality. In Experiment 1, a pair of white noise patterns was presented at various SOAs to different ears with headphones, while large-field visual motion was continuously presented and compelled observers to perceive self-motion (yaw-axis circular vection). The results revealed that the perceived order of auditory events was modulated by the direction of apparent self-motion in much the same way in our previous study. In Experiment 2, to reduce response bias (the observers might simply report the side to which they perceived self-motion), we used the method in which a pair of different pitched sounds was presented and observers were requested to judge which kind of sound was perceived first (high or low pitched sound), not its side (left or right). We discussed how the visual information on self-motion was used to reconstruct the temporal order of visual/auditory events in the brain.

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