Thomas James Philip, Shiffrar Maggie
Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ.
J Vis. 2013 Dec 6;13(14):8. doi: 10.1167/13.14.8.
Previous research demonstrates that meaningfully related sounds enhance visual sensitivity to point-light displays of human movement. Here we report two psychophysical studies that investigated whether, and if so when, this facilitation is modulated by the temporal relationship between auditory and visual stimuli. In Experiment 1, participants detected point-light walkers in masks while listening to footsteps that were either synchronous or out-of-phase with point-light footfalls. The relative timing of auditory and visual walking did not impact performance. Experiment 2 further tested the importance of multisensory timing by disrupting the rhythm of the auditory and visual streams. Participants detected point-light walkers while listening to footstep or tone sounds that were either synchronous or temporally random with regards to point-light footfalls. Heard footsteps improved visual sensitivity over heard tones regardless of timing. Taken together, these results suggest that during the detection of others' actions, the perceptual system makes use of meaningfully related sounds whether or not they are synchronous. These results are discussed in relation to the unity assumption theory as well as recent empirical data that suggest that temporal correspondence is not always a critical factor in multisensory perception and integration.
先前的研究表明，有意义的相关声音会增强对人类运动点光显示的视觉敏感度。在此，我们报告两项心理物理学研究，这些研究调查了这种促进作用是否以及在何时会受到听觉和视觉刺激之间时间关系的调节。在实验1中，参与者在听与点光脚步声同步或不同步的脚步声时，检测戴着面具的点光行走者。听觉和视觉行走的相对时间并未影响表现。实验2通过打乱听觉和视觉流的节奏，进一步测试了多感官时间同步的重要性。参与者在听与点光脚步声同步或时间随机的脚步声或音调声音时，检测点光行走者。无论时间同步情况如何，听到的脚步声比听到的音调更能提高视觉敏感度。综合来看，这些结果表明，在检测他人的动作时，感知系统会利用有意义的相关声音，无论它们是否同步。我们将结合统一假设理论以及最近的实证数据来讨论这些结果，这些数据表明时间对应并不总是多感官感知和整合中的关键因素。
