Title
The absence of an auditory-visual attentional blink is not due to echoic memory
Author
van der Burg, E.
Olivers, C.N.L.
Bronkhorst, A.W.
Koelewijn, T.
Theeuwes, J.
TNO Defensie en Veiligheid
Publication year
2007
Abstract
The second of two targets is often missed when presented shortly after the first targeta phenomenon referred to as the attentional blink (AB). Whereas the AB is a robust phenomenon within sensory modalities, the evidence for cross-modal ABs is rather mixed. Here, we test the possibility that the absence of an auditoryvisual AB for visual letter recognition when streams of tones are used is due to the efficient use of echoic memory, allowing for the postponement of auditory processing. However, forcing participants to immediately process the auditory target, either by presenting interfering sounds during retrieval or by making the first target directly relevant for a speeded response to the second target, did not result in a return of a cross-modal AB. The findings argue against echoic memory as an explanation for efficient cross-modal processing. Instead, we hypothesized that a cross-modal AB may be observed when the different modalities use common representations, such as semantic representations. In support of this, a deficit for visual letter recognition returned when the auditory task required a distinction between spoken digits and letters.
Als binnen een halve seconde twee visuele items in een serieel aangeboden stroom moeten worden geselecteerd, is de prestatie voor het tweede item vaak relatief slecht (er treedt een attentional blink op); wanneer het eerste echter item auditief wordt aangeboden, verdwijnt de blink meestal. We hebben aangetoond dat dit laatste niet wordt veroorzaakt doordat proefpersonen hun echoïsch geheugen gebruiken om de verwerking van het auditieve item uit te stellen tot na het einde van de visuele stroom.
Subject
Acoustics and Audiology
adolescent
adult
article
attention
blinking
female
hearing
human
male
memory
recognition
semantics
vision
Adolescent
Adult
Attention
Auditory Perception
Blinking
Female
Humans
Male
Memory
Recognition (Psychology)
Semantics
Visual Perception
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:ccd54c48-1310-4201-a9a1-ee175a49d932
TNO identifier
19309
Source
Perception & Psychophysics, 69 (7), 1230-1241
Document type
article