Auditory Figure-Ground Segregation Is Impaired by High Visual Load

Figure-ground segregation is fundamental to listening in complex acoustic environments. An ongoing debate pertains to whether segregation requires attention or is “automatic” and preattentive. In this magnetoencephalography study, we tested a prediction derived from load theory of attention (e.g., Lavie, 1995) that segregation requires attention but can benefit from the automatic allocation of any “leftover” capacity under low load. Complex auditory scenes were modeled with stochastic figure-ground stimuli (Teki et al., 2013), which occasionally contained repeated frequency component “figures.” Naive human participants (both sexes) passively listened to these signals while performing a visual attention task of either low or high load. While clear figure-related neural responses were observed under conditions of low load, high visual load substantially reduced the neural response to the figure in auditory cortex (planum temporale, Heschl's gyrus). We conclude that fundamental figure-ground segregation in hearing is not automatic but draws on resources that are shared across vision and audition. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This work resolves a long-standing question of whether figure-ground segregation, a fundamental process of auditory scene analysis, requires attention or is underpinned by automatic, encapsulated computations. Task-irrelevant sounds were presented during performance of a visual search task. We revealed a clear magnetoencephalography neural signature of figure-ground segregation in conditions of low visual load, which was substantially reduced in conditions of high visual load. This demonstrates that, although attention does not need to be actively allocated to sound for auditory segregation to occur, segregation depends on shared computational resources across vision and hearing. The findings further highlight that visual load can impair the computational capacity of the auditory system, even when it does not simply dampen auditory responses as a whole.