Examining auditory-visual temporal asynchrony detection
Poster

Sharon Morein-Zamir
University of British Columbia

Carey Huh
University of British Columbia

Alan Kingstone
University of British Columbia

     Abstract ID Number: 80
     Full text: Not available
     Last modified: May 13, 2003

Abstract
Integration between auditory and visual events can be accomplished even when they are asynchronous. The degree of asynchrony between visual and auditory events that can be tolerated depends on whether the auditory information is leading the visual event (AV) or trailing (VA). When asked whether auditory and visual stimuli are synchronous or asynchronous, participants found asynchrony harder to detect in the VA than in the AV condition. This AV/VA difference depended on the type of auditory and visual stimuli (brief or long lasting). The spatial location from which the auditory events originated was found not to influence asynchrony detection. These factors did not appear to play a role when the task demands were changed and participants were asked to determine which stimuli appeared first, instead of detecting asynchrony. It is concluded that the AV/VA effect can be used to examine perceptual as well as cognitive factors that may play a role in multisensory temporal integration.