Recalibration of the Multisensory Temporal Window of Integration Results from Changing Task Demands
Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: The notion of the temporal window of integration, when applied in a multisensory context, refers to the breadth of the interval across which the brain perceives two stimuli from different sensory modalities as synchronous. It maintains a unitary perception of multisensory events despite physical and biophysical timing differences between the senses. The boundaries of the window can be influenced by attention and past sensory experience. Here we examined whether task demands could also influence the multisensory temporal window of integration. We varied the stimulus onset asynchrony between simple, short-lasting auditory and visual stimuli while participants performed two tasks in separate blocks: a temporal order judgment task that required the discrimination of subtle auditory-visual asynchronies, and a reaction time task to the first incoming stimulus irrespective of its sensory modality. We defined the temporal window of integration as the range of stimulus onset asynchronies where performance was below 75% in the temporal order judgment task, as well as the range of stimulus onset asynchronies where responses showed multisensory facilitation (race model violation) in the reaction time task. In 5 of 11 participants, we observed audio-visual stimulus onset asynchronies where reaction time was significantly accelerated (indicating successful integration in this task) while performance was accurate in the temporal order judgment task (indicating successful segregation in that task). This dissociation suggests that in some participants, the boundaries of the temporal window of integration can adaptively recalibrate in order to optimize performance according to specific task demands.
Source: PLoS ONE
Institution: Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,382
Funders: National Science Foundation, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, National Institutes of Health, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
OpenAlex ID: W2046793367