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Multisensory Interaction of Audiovisual Stimuli on the
Central and Peripheral Spatial Locations: A Behavioral
Study
Qi Li
1,3
, Jingjing Yang
1
, Noriyoshi Kakura
2
, and Jinglong Wu
1,4
1
Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University,
Okayama, Japan
2
Graduate School of Engineering, Kagawa University, Takamatsu, Japan
3
School of Computer Science and Technology, Changchun University of Science
and Technology, Changchun, China
4
The International WIC Institute, Beijing University of Technology, China
wu@mech.okayama-u.ac.jp
Abstract.
Much knowledge has been gained about how the brain is activated on
audiovisual interaction. However, few data was acquired about the relationship
between audiovisual interaction and spatial locations of audiovisual stimuli.
Here, we investigated the multisensory interaction of audiovisual stimuli pre-
sented on central and peripheral spatial locations. Firstly, we determined the
maximal eccentricity of peripheral spatial location on where stimuli were pre-
sented which was 30°. Second, the results of audiovisual interaction showed
that the interaction of visual and auditory can have dramatic effects on human
perception and performance. Moreover, this effect depended on the spatial loca-
tions of presented audiovisual stimuli.
1 Introduction
Recognizing an object requires one to pool information from various sensory modali-
ties, and to ignore information from competing objects [1]. It is well documented that
combining sensory information can enhance perceptual clarity and reduce ambiguity
about the sensory environment [2]. For example, multisensory information can speed
reaction times [3, 4, 5], facilitate learning [6] and change the qualitative sensory ex-
perience [2]. Typically, these perceptual enhancements have been found to depend
upon the stimuli being within close spatial and temporal proximity, although interac-
tions have been observed in some cases even with significant spatial disparities be-
tween the visual and auditory stimuli [7]. In addition, visual information dominates
auditory spatial information in the perception of object location [8, 9]. Perceptual
temporal acuity in the visual system is relatively poor compared with the auditory
system [7, 10].
Some studies have shown that the reaction times to visual stimuli slowed with the
eccentricity increase of stimuli [13]. And the capability of auditory localization also
became low with the eccentricity increase of stimuli [14]. However, whether the
eccentricity of stimuli affected the multisensory interaction remain unclear.
