Object-based auditory and visual attention

Theories of visual attention argue that attention operates on perceptual objects, and thus that interactions between object formation and selective attention determine how competing sources interfere with perception. In auditory perception, theories of attention are less mature and no comprehensive framework exists to explain how attention influences perceptual abilities. However, the same principles that govern visual perception can explain many seemingly disparate auditory phenomena. In particular, many recent studies of 'informational masking' can be explained by failures of either auditory object formation or auditory object selection. This similarity suggests that the same neural mechanisms control attention and influence perception across different sensory modalities.     

A developmental study of attention to auditory and visual signals

Three experiments tested for developmental changes in attention to simple auditory and visual signals. Subject pressed a single button in response to the onset (Experiment 1) or offset (Experiment 2) of either a tone or a light. During one block of trials subjects knew which stimulus would come on or go off on each trial (precue condition) whereas during the other block of trials no precue was provided. In both experiments subjects as young as 4 years old responded more rapidly with precues, indicating that they were able to allocate their attention to the indicated modality. Experiment 3 utilized a choice reaction paradigm (in which subjects pressed different buttons in response to the onset of the light and the tone) in order to examine their attention allocation when no precues were provided. It was found that the adults and 7-year-olds tended to allocate their attention to vision rather than audition when no precue was provided. The results with the 4-year-olds were not entirely consistent, but suggested a similar biasing of attention to vision on their part as well.     

Dividing attention between auditory and visual perception

To what extent is simultaneous visual and auditory perception subject to capacity limitations and attentional control? Two experiments addressed this question by asking observers to recognize test tones and test letters under selective and divided attention. In Experiment 1, both stimuli occurred on each trial, but subjects were cued in advance to process just one or both of the stimuli. In Experiment 2, subjects processed one stimulus and then the other or processed both stimuli simultaneously. Processing time was controlled using a backward recognition masking task. A significant, but small, attention effect was found in both experiments. The present positive results weaken the interpretation that previous attentional effects were due to the particular duration judgment task that was employed. The answer to the question addressed by the experiments appears to be that the degree of capacity limitations and attentional control during visual and auditory perception is small but significant.     

A tool for tracking visual attention: The Restricted Focus Viewer

Eye-tracking equipment has proven useful in examining the cognitive processes people use when understanding and reasoning with visual stimuli. However, eye-tracking has several drawbacks: accurate eye-tracking equipment is expensive, it is often awkward for participants, it requires frequent recalibration, and the data can be difficult to interpret. We introduce an alternative tool: theRestricted Focus Viewer (RFV). This is a computer program that takes an image, blurs it, and displays it on a computer monitor, allowing the participant to see only a small region of the image in focus at any time. The region in focus can be moved using the computer mouse. The RFV records what the participant is focusing on at any point in time. It is cheap, nonintrusive, does not require calibration, and provides accurate data about which region is being focused on. We describe this tool and also provide experimental comparisons with eye-tracking. The RFV (Version 2.1) is freely available at http://www.csse.monash.edu. au/projects/RFV/.     

Divided attention between simultaneous auditory and visual signals

Past studies of simultaneous attention to pairs of visual stimuli have used the “dual-task” paradigm to show that identification of the direction of a change in luminance, whether incremental or decremental, is “capacity-limited,” while simple detection of these changes is governed by “capacity-free” processes. On the basis of that finding, it has been suggested that the contrast between identification and detection reflects different processes in the sensory periphery, namely the responses of magno- and parvocellular receptors. The present study questions that assertion and investigates the contribution of central processing in resource limitation by applying the dual task to a situation in which one stimulus is auditory and one is visual. The results are much the same as before, with identification demonstrating the tradeoff in performance generally attributed to a limited capacity but detection showing no loss compared with single-task controls. This implies that limitations on resources operate at a central level of processing rather than in the auditory and visual peripheries.     

Neuronal effects of auditory distraction on visual attention

Selective attention in the presence of distraction is a key aspect of healthy cognition. The underlying neurobiological processes, have not, however, been functionally well characterized. In the present study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine how ecologically relevant distracting noise affects cortical activity in 27 healthy adults during two versions of the visual Sustained Attention To Response Task (SART) that differ in difficulty (and thus attentional load). A significant condition (noise or silence) by task (easy or difficult) interaction was observed in several areas, including dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), fusiform gyrus (FG), posterior cingulate (PCC), and pre-supplementary motor area (PreSMA). Post hoc analyses of interaction effects revealed deactivation of DLPFC, PCC, and PreSMA during distracting noise under conditions of low attentional load, and activation of FG and PCC during distracting noise under conditions of high attentional load. These results suggest that distracting noise may help alert subjects to task goals and reduce demands on cortical resources during tasks of low difficulty and attentional load. Under conditions of higher load, however, additional cognitive resources may be required in the presence of noise.     

Eye position and visual attention influence perceived auditory direction

The singular and joint effects of eccentric visual fixation and peripheral visual attention upon the perceived auditory median plane (PAMP) of the head were examined in four subjects. They positioned a hidden, horizontally-moving sound source to the perceived median plane of the head, while fixating a light 20 degrees or 45 degrees to the right or left of the actual median plane, and attending to another light in peripheral vision. Analysis by multiple linear regression yielded a model for each subject which indicated the nature and weighting of those factors contributing to variance reduction in PAMP judgments. Three subjects showed a strong linear attention effect, resulting in shifts of the PAMP away from the locus of attention. Similarly, a strong linear fixation effect was discovered in two subjects, a weak effect in another, and a nonlinear, inverse fixation effect in the last. Additional factors were noted for some subjects. Possible explanations of the observed effects were discussed. The study indicates that both visual attention and visual fixation are critical factors in experiments on auditory space perception although inter-individual differences do exist in the nature and strength of the effects.     

Multielement visual tracking: attention and perceptual organization.

Two types of theories have been advanced to account for how attention is allocated in performing goal-directed visual tasks. According to location-based theories, visual attention is allocated to spatial locations in the image; according to object-based theories, attention is allocated to perceptual objects. Evidence for the latter view comes from experiments demonstrating the importance of perceptual grouping in selective-attention tasks. This article provides further evidence concerning the importance of perceptual organization in attending to objects. In seven experiments, observers tracked multiple randomly moving visual elements under a variety of conditions. Ten elements moved continuously about the display for several seconds; one to five of them were designated as targets before movement initiation. At the end of movement, one element was highlighted, and subjects indicated whether or not it was a target. The ease with which the elements in the target set could be perceptually grouped was systematically manipulated. In Experiments 1-3, factors that influenced the initial formation of a perceptual group were manipulated; this affected performance, but only early in practice. In Experiments 4-7, factors that influenced the maintenance of a perceptual group during motion were manipulated; this affected performance throughout practice. The results suggest that observers spontaneously grouped the target elements and directed attention toward this coherent but nonrigid virtual object. This supports object-based theories of attention and demonstrates that perceptual grouping, which is usually conceived of as a purely stimulus-driven process, can also be governed by goal-directed mechanisms.     

The role of attention in visual and auditory suffix effects

Memory & Cognition - The auditory suffix effect (SE), in which recall of the terminal items of a sequence is impaired by presenting a redundant item at the end of the sequence, has been...     

Looking where you listen: visual cues and auditory attention

In the non-laboratory environment, we are generally able to see the source of the sounds to which we are attending. In a preliminary examination of how and to what degree we might use this visual information, subjects shadowed one of two female voices when able to see the persons speaking (Experiment I) or when able to see, and thus precisely localize, the auditory loudspeakers (Experiment II). Selective performance was improved by being able to see the lip movements of the people whose voices were heard, and by being able to localize visually the sources of the voices.     

Crossmodal object-based attention: auditory objects affect visual processing

According to the object-based view, visual attention can be deployed to "objects" or perceptual units, regardless of spatial locations. Recently, however, the notion of object has also been extended to the auditory domain, with some authors suggesting possible interactions between visual and auditory objects. Here we show that task-irrelevant auditory objects may affect the deployment of visual attention, providing evidence that crossmodal links can also occur at an object-based level. Hence, in addition to the well documented control of visual objects over what we hear, our findings demonstrate that, in some cases, auditory objects can affect visual processing.     

Sport stacking in auditory and visual attention of grade 3 learners

The effect of sport stacking on auditory and visual attention in 32 Grade 3 children was examined using a randomised, cross-over design. Children were randomly assigned to a sport stacking (n=16) or arts/crafts group (n=16) with these activities performed over 3 wk. (12 30-min. sessions, 4 per week). This was followed by a 3-wk. wash-out period after which there was a cross-over and the 3-wk. intervention repeated, with the sports stacking group performing arts/crafts and the arts/crafts group performing sports stacking. Performance on the Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test, a measure of auditory and visual attention, was assessed before and after each of the 3-wk. interventions for each group. Comparisons indicated that sport stacking resulted in significant improvement in high demand function and fine motor regulation, while it caused a significant reduction in low demand function. Auditory and visual attention adaptations to sport stacking may be specific to the high demand nature of the task.     

Unimodal and crossmodal effects of endogenous attention to visual and auditory motion

Three experiments were conducted examining unimodal and crossmodal effects of attention to motion. Horizontally moving sounds and dot patterns were presented and participants’ task was to discriminate their motion speed or whether they were presented with a brief gap. In Experiments 1 and 2, stimuli of one modality and of one direction were presented with a higher probability ( p = .7) than other stimuli. Sounds and dot patterns moving in the expected direction were discriminated faster than stimuli moving in the unexpected direction. In Experiment 3, participants had to respond only to stimuli moving in one direction within the primary modality, but to all stimuli regardless of their direction within the rarer secondary modality. Stimuli of the secondary modality moving in the attended direction were discriminated faster than were oppositely moving stimuli. Results suggest that attending to the direction of motion affects perception within vision and audition, but also across modalities.     

Age-related changes in visual and auditory sustained attention in preschool-aged children

Objective: The development of sustained attention in the preschool years is not yet fully understood. Delineating age-related changes of attentional proficiencies and deficiencies is important for understanding atypical developmental trajectories, specifically in neurodevelopmental disorders that are characterized by attentional difficulties. The objective of the current study was to develop preschool-appropriate measures for assessing sustained attention and to chart developmental changes in attention in early childhood. Method: Using adapted computerized paradigms, the present study investigated age-related changes in visual and auditory sustained attention in seventy typically developing children aged 3 to 6 years. Results: The results indicated that similar age-related gains in performance emerged across both visual and auditory attention tasks. Conclusion: The findings suggest that the adapted measures developed in this study are sensitive enough to capture developmental variations in attention performance.     

Studying visual attention using the multiple object tracking paradigm: A tutorial review

Human observers are capable of tracking multiple objects among identical distractors based only on their spatiotemporal information. Since the first report of this ability in the seminal work of Pylyshyn and Storm (1988, Spatial Vision, 3, 179–197), multiple object tracking has attracted many researchers. A reason for this is that it is commonly argued that the attentional processes studied with the multiple object paradigm apparently match the attentional processing during real-world tasks such as driving or team sports. We argue that multiple object tracking provides a good mean to study the broader topic of continuous and dynamic visual attention. Indeed, several (partially contradicting) theories of attentive tracking have been proposed within the almost 30 years since its first report, and a large body of research has been conducted to test these theories. With regard to the richness and diversity of this literature, the aim of this tutorial review is to provide researchers who are new in the field of multiple object tracking with an overview over the multiple object tracking paradigm, its basic manipulations, as well as links to other paradigms investigating visual attention and working memory. Further, we aim at reviewing current theories of tracking as well as their empirical evidence. Finally, we review the state of the art in the most prominent research fields of multiple object tracking and how this research has helped to understand visual attention in dynamic settings.     

The development of visual and auditory selective attention using the central-incidental paradigm

Analogous auditory and visual central-incidental learning tasks were administered to 24 second-, fourth-, and sixth-grade and college-age subjects to study the effects of modality of presentation on memory for central and incidental stimulus materials. There was no strong evidence to indicate that modality of presentation was an important factor in the development of selective attention. Central task learning increased with age for both auditory and visual presentations; incidental learning declined at the oldest age level for both auditory and visual tasks. The serial position analysis revealed that the observed developmental increase in recall performance was due primarily to differences in the initial serial positions. The use of active strategies for focusing attention on the relevant stimulus materials seemed to be the crucial determinant of level of performance.     

Interference between auditory and visual duration judgements suggests a common code for time

Auditory stimuli usually have longer subjective durations than visual ones for the same real duration, although performance on many timing tasks is similar in form with different modalities. One suggestion is that auditory and visual stimuli are initially timed by different mechanisms, but later converted into some common duration code which is amodal. The present study investigated this using a temporal generalization interference paradigm. In test blocks, people decided whether comparison durations were or were not a 400-ms standard on average. Test blocks alternated with interference blocks where durations were systematically shorter or longer than in test blocks, and interference was found, in the direction of the durations in the interference blocks, even when the interfering blocks used stimuli in a different modality from the test block. This provides what may be the first direct experimental evidence for a “common code” for durations initially presented in different modalities at some level of the human timing system.     

A theory of visual attention

A unified theory of visual recognition and attentional selection is developed by integrating the biased-choice model for single-stimulus recognition (Luce, 1963; Shepard, 1957) with a choice model for selection from multielement displays (Bundesen, Pedersen, & Larsen, 1984) in a race model framework. Mathematically, the theory is tractable, and it specifies the computations necessary for selection. The theory is applied to extant findings from a broad range of experimental paradigms. The findings include effects of object integrality in selective report, number and spatial position of targets in divided-attention paradigms, selection criterion and number of distracters in focused-attention paradigms, delay of selection cue in partial report, and consistent practice in search. On the whole, the quantitative fits are encouraging.     

The suppression of reflexive visual and auditory orienting when attention is otherwise engaged

Two experiments were conducted to examine whether abrupt onsets are capable of reflexively capturing attention when they occur outside the current focus of spatial attention, as would be expected if exogenous orienting operates in a truly automatic fashion. The authors established a highly focused attentional state by means of the central presentation of a stream of visual or auditory characters, which participants sometimes had to monitor. No intramodal reflexive cuing effects were observed in either audition or vision when participants performed either an exogenous visual or auditory orthogonal cuing task together with the central focused attention task. These results suggest that reflexive unimodal orienting is not truly automatic. The fact that cuing effects were eliminated under both unimodal and cross-modal conditions is consistent with the view that auditory and visual reflexive spatial orienting are controlled by a common underlying neural substrate.     

Perception of exertion and attention allocation as a function of visual and auditory conditions

AimThe aim of the present study was to test the role of auditory (e.g., music) and visual sensory modalities on perceived levels of exertion and attention processes across a 30% dynamometer-squeezing task. The study explored the dynamics embedded within the automated nature of the association–dissociation shift process.MethodSixty young adults (33 male and 27 female; M_age = 22.21 yrs, SD = 3.49) were recruited to perform a handgrip-squeezing task. They were randomly assigned to 4 groups of 15 participants. After establishing the maximal squeezing value they performed 30% max squeezing-task under one of four assigned condition: full vision and preferred music, full vision and no music, blindfolded and preferred music, and blindfolded and no music until volitional fatigue. Rate of perceived exertion and attention strategies were administered at 30 s intervals.ResultsA set of Repeated Measures ANOVAs indicated an additive effect of visual and auditory cues on the perception of exertion, and the dynamic pattern of attention shift. Participants who were given both forms of sensory information remained in a dissociative strategy for a significantly longer duration than participants in all other conditions.ConclusionsSeveral sensory modalities are required to affect perceived exertion and attention allocation while engaging in demanding workload. External stimuli may serve as mediating agents in diverting attention away from internal and painful stimuli. This distraction may likely contribute to the pleasantness of the exercise experience, ultimately leading to increased exercise participation and reduced dropout rates.