Pitch Improvement in Attentional Blink: A Study across Audiovisual Asymmetries

Abstract

Attentional blink (AB) is a phenomenon in which the perception of a second target is impaired when it appears within 200–500 ms after the first target. Sound affects an AB and is accompanied by the appearance of an asymmetry during audiovisual integration, but it is not known whether this is related to the tonal representation of sound. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of audiovisual asymmetry on attentional blink and whether the presentation of pitch improves the ability to detect a target during an AB that is accompanied by audiovisual asymmetry. The results showed that as the lag increased, the subject’s target recognition improved and the pitch produced further improvements. These improvements exhibited a significant asymmetry across the audiovisual channel. Our findings could contribute to better utilizations of audiovisual integration resources to improve attentional transients and auditory recognition decline, which could be useful in areas such as driving and education.