Purpose

1
Invalid Cues Impair Auditory Motion Sensitivity
Raymond M. Stanley Nestor Matthews
Denison University, Dept. of Psychology,
Granville, Ohio, USA
Purpose
Discussion
Experimental Conditions
It is well known that non-sensory factors can
influence visual motion perception (Raymond
2000). Here, we study the influence of
non-sensory factors on auditory motion perception.
When the directional cue was invalid, motion
sensitivity was significantly impaired, and
motion was reported significantly less often.
Because positional information was identical
across conditions, a position-based strategy
alone cannot explain the data. The cue dependent
impairment in the present auditory study is
similar to that reported for the visual system
(Ball Sekuler, 1981).
No Cue
Valid Cue
Invalid Cue
58.3
8.3
33.3
Results
Stimuli Task
A trial comprised an auditory cue followed by
either moving or stationary stimuli, presented
via headphones. Moving stimuli were simulated by
dichotic interaural intensity differences.
Stationary stimuli were simulated by diotic
amplitude modulations.
Bottom Line
The results suggest that auditory motion
sensitivity can be significantly affected by a
non-sensory factor, namely, cue validity.
References
Ball Sekuler (1981). Cues reduce direction
uncertainty and enhance motion detection.
Perception Psychophysics, 30(2), 119
128. Raymond (2000). Attentional modulation of
visual motion perception. Trends in Cognitive
Science, 4(2), 42 50.
Participants confirmed the cue then judged
whether motion was present or absent.