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Task-dependent calibration of auditory spatial perception through environmental visual observation

Visual information is paramount to space perception. Vision influences auditory space estimation. Many studies show that simultaneous visual and auditory cues improve precision of the final multisensory estimate. However, the amount or the temporal extent of visual information, that is sufficient to...

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Autores principales: Tonelli, Alessia, Brayda, Luca, Gori, Monica
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4451354/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26082692
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnsys.2015.00084
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author Tonelli, Alessia
Brayda, Luca
Gori, Monica
author_facet Tonelli, Alessia
Brayda, Luca
Gori, Monica
author_sort Tonelli, Alessia
collection PubMed
description Visual information is paramount to space perception. Vision influences auditory space estimation. Many studies show that simultaneous visual and auditory cues improve precision of the final multisensory estimate. However, the amount or the temporal extent of visual information, that is sufficient to influence auditory perception, is still unknown. It is therefore interesting to know if vision can improve auditory precision through a short-term environmental observation preceding the audio task and whether this influence is task-specific or environment-specific or both. To test these issues we investigate possible improvements of acoustic precision with sighted blindfolded participants in two audio tasks [minimum audible angle (MAA) and space bisection] and two acoustically different environments (normal room and anechoic room). With respect to a baseline of auditory precision, we found an improvement of precision in the space bisection task but not in the MAA after the observation of a normal room. No improvement was found when performing the same task in an anechoic chamber. In addition, no difference was found between a condition of short environment observation and a condition of full vision during the whole experimental session. Our results suggest that even short-term environmental observation can calibrate auditory spatial performance. They also suggest that echoes can be the cue that underpins visual calibration. Echoes may mediate the transfer of information from the visual to the auditory system.
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spelling pubmed-44513542015-06-16 Task-dependent calibration of auditory spatial perception through environmental visual observation Tonelli, Alessia Brayda, Luca Gori, Monica Front Syst Neurosci Neuroscience Visual information is paramount to space perception. Vision influences auditory space estimation. Many studies show that simultaneous visual and auditory cues improve precision of the final multisensory estimate. However, the amount or the temporal extent of visual information, that is sufficient to influence auditory perception, is still unknown. It is therefore interesting to know if vision can improve auditory precision through a short-term environmental observation preceding the audio task and whether this influence is task-specific or environment-specific or both. To test these issues we investigate possible improvements of acoustic precision with sighted blindfolded participants in two audio tasks [minimum audible angle (MAA) and space bisection] and two acoustically different environments (normal room and anechoic room). With respect to a baseline of auditory precision, we found an improvement of precision in the space bisection task but not in the MAA after the observation of a normal room. No improvement was found when performing the same task in an anechoic chamber. In addition, no difference was found between a condition of short environment observation and a condition of full vision during the whole experimental session. Our results suggest that even short-term environmental observation can calibrate auditory spatial performance. They also suggest that echoes can be the cue that underpins visual calibration. Echoes may mediate the transfer of information from the visual to the auditory system. Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-06-02 /pmc/articles/PMC4451354/ /pubmed/26082692 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnsys.2015.00084 Text en Copyright © 2015 Tonelli, Brayda and Gori. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution and reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Tonelli, Alessia
Brayda, Luca
Gori, Monica
Task-dependent calibration of auditory spatial perception through environmental visual observation
title Task-dependent calibration of auditory spatial perception through environmental visual observation
title_full Task-dependent calibration of auditory spatial perception through environmental visual observation
title_fullStr Task-dependent calibration of auditory spatial perception through environmental visual observation
title_full_unstemmed Task-dependent calibration of auditory spatial perception through environmental visual observation
title_short Task-dependent calibration of auditory spatial perception through environmental visual observation
title_sort task-dependent calibration of auditory spatial perception through environmental visual observation
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4451354/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26082692
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnsys.2015.00084
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