Journal article

Publication year: 2013

Journal: PLoS ONE

Volume number: 8

Issue number: 1

ISSN: 1932-6203

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054789

Publisher: Public Library of Science

Abstract: 

Background: The duration of sounds can affect the perceived duration of co-occurring visual stimuli. However, it is unclear whether this is limited to amodal processes of duration perception or affects other non-temporal qualities of visual perception.Methodology/Principal Findings: Here, we tested the hypothesis that visual sensitivity - rather than only the perceived duration of visual stimuli - can be affected by the duration of co-occurring sounds. We found that visual detection sensitivity (d') for unimodal stimuli was higher for stimuli of longer duration. Crucially, in a cross-modal condition, we replicated previous unimodal findings, observing that visual sensitivity was shaped by the duration of co-occurring sounds. When short visual stimuli (similar to 24 ms) were accompanied by sounds of matching duration, visual sensitivity was decreased relative to the unimodal visual condition. However, when the same visual stimuli were accompanied by longer auditory stimuli (, 6096 ms), visual sensitivity was increased relative to the performance for similar to 24 ms auditory stimuli. Across participants, this sensitivity enhancement was observed within a critical time window of similar to 60-96 ms. Moreover, the amplitude of this effect correlated with visual sensitivity enhancement found for longer lasting visual stimuli across participants.Conclusions/Significance: Our findings show that the duration of co-occurring sounds affects visual perception; it changes visual sensitivity in a similar way as altering the (actual) duration of the visual stimuli does.

Harvard Citation style: de Haas, B., Cecere, R., Cullen, H., Driver, J. and Romei, V. (2013) The Duration of a Co-Occurring Sound Modulates Visual Detection Performance in Humans, PLoS ONE, 8(1), Article e54789. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054789

APA Citation style: de Haas, B., Cecere, R., Cullen, H., Driver, J., & Romei, V. (2013). The Duration of a Co-Occurring Sound Modulates Visual Detection Performance in Humans. PLoS ONE. 8(1), Article e54789. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054789