Search PubMedSearch

PubMed · 6227698

Auditory spatial alternation transforms auditory time.

Abstract

Recent research has shown that a sequence of auditory events that is alternated between the ears is stretched out in auditory memory, as compared with nonalternating sequences. Although the stimulus-onset asynchronies (SOAs) of the interaural and monaural sequences were the same, the perceptual-onset asynchronies (POAs) differed by 24 msec. Because this result was only established for a restricted range of SOAs (125-250 msec), the present study tested a much larger range (40-2,130 msec). It turned out that the POA difference of 25 msec remained invariant over this whole range. Furthermore it was investigated how the angle of alternation affected the POA difference. It was found that (a) this difference increased linearly with increasing angular separation, and (b) the effects of SOA and angular separation on the POA difference were additive. The merits of six different attention-switching models were inspected to explain these results, but none of the models could describe the effects satisfactorily. We offer a new model, the space-time network, that copes not only with the present results but also explains several other studies reported in the literature.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

S Akerboom, G ten Hoopen, P Olierook, T van der Schaaf. 1983. Auditory spatial alternation transforms auditory time.. https://doi.org/10.1037/%2F0096-1523.9.6.882

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

Heightened motor activity level in male offspring of substance abusing fathers.

Heightened activity level has been implicated in the liability for substance abuse, but no prior research has directly examined motor activity in a sample of prepubertal boys at high-risk for substance abuse. The magnitude of behavioral activity of 10-12 year-old sons of substance abusing fathers (SA +) (n = 42) and controls (SA -) (n = 60) was assessed using a microprocessor-based activity monitor during tasks that demanded significant concentration, effort, and constraint on motor activity, and when no such demands were present. Psychiatric status, measures of temperament traits, and measures of internalizing and externalizing behaviors were also obtained on the boys. Although the groups did not differ during the lower demand task, SA + boys showed significantly greater motor activity than SA - boys during the tasks that required concerted effort, attention, and behavioral suppression. Multiple regression analysis indicated that under the low-demand condition, the presence of an anxiety disorder in the boy was the only significant predictor of activity level. However, under the conditions that demanded effort, concerted attention and behavioral suppression, SA + group membership, and having low rhythmicity (as a temperament trait) predicted heightened activity. Statistically controlling for rhythmicity, the SA + boys were estimated to have about 24% higher activity than control boys. The results suggest that heightened motor activity may be associated with susceptibility to substance abuse.

Attention

Attention-based motion perception.

Two "attentive" tracking tasks reveal the existence of an attention-based motion process. In the first task, oppositely rotating luminance and color gratings were superimposed. Because of masking from the color grating, the bars of the luminance grating were not visible; nevertheless, their motion was visible and it determined the perceived direction of the stimulus rotation. On the other hand, the bars of the color grating were visible but they could only be seen to move (in the opposite direction to the overall stimulus rotation) when they were tracked with attention. In a second task, the perceived velocity of a color grating, typically slow at equiluminance, speeded up when individual bars were attentively tracked. These findings demonstrate two independent motion processes: one that is "low-level" or automatic in that it signals motion even in the absence of attention to the stimulus, and one that is mediated by attention to visible features and provides accurate velocity judgments independently of the features being tracked.

Attention

Attentional asymmetry in schizophrenia: controlled and automatic processes.

Two versions of Posner's covert orienting task were administered to 14 drug-free schizophrenic patients and 12 normal controls. In the schizophrenic subjects, automatic orienting to exogenous cues in the right visual field was impaired. However, this lateralizing general deficit was not present when the schizophrenics were able to direct attention effortfully in the second version of the task using endogenous cues. These findings support the hypothesis that there is a deficit in left hemispheric mechanisms mediating visual spatial attention in schizophrenia. However, when schizophrenics are given the opportunity to use an attentional strategy they are able to partially overcome this lateralized processing deficit.

Attention