Auditory Effects on the Timing of Exogenous and Endogenous Visual Attention
Mirjam Keetels, Jean Vroomen
Poster
Time: 2009-07-01 09:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Last modified: 2009-06-04
Abstract
The authors explored the effect of sound on the timing of exogenous and endogenous visual attention. Twelve clocks arranged in a circle around central fixation revolved in clockwise direction with randomly determined initial positions (Carlson et al., 2006, Journal of Vision). The participant’s task was to report the hand position of a target clock at the time that an exogenous cue (one clock turning red for 100 ms) or an endogenous cue (a line pointing from fixation towards one of the clocks) was presented. An auditory click was presented either 100 ms before, simultaneously, or 100 ms after the cue. In a silent control condition, endogenous cues resulted in a larger lag of the clock’s hand from actual position (> 200 ms) than exogenous cues (~80 ms). A simultaneous sound improved accuracy for both cues, and a click before or after the cues shifted the lag in that direction. Sounds thus affected the timing of exogenous and endogenous visual attention.