Auditory stimulation affects apparent motion

Abstract

In two experiments, we investigated how the number of auditory stimuli affected the apparent motion induced by visual stimuli. The multiple visual stimuli that induced the apparent motion on the front parallel plane, or in the depth dimension in terms of the binocular disparity cue, were accompanied by multiple auditory stimuli. Observers reported the number of visual stimuli (Experiments 1 and 2) and the displacement of the apparent motion that was defined by the distance between the first and last visual stimuli (Experiment 2). When the number of auditory stimuli was more/less than that of the visual stimuli, observers tended to perceive more/less visual stimuli and a larger/smaller displacement than when the numbers of the auditory and visual stimuli were the same, regardless of the dimension of motion. These results suggest that auditory stimulation may modify the visual processing of motion by modulating the spatiotemporal resolution and extent of the displacement. © 2006 Japanese Psychological Association.