Abstract
Subjects judged the elevation (up vs. down, regardless of laterality) of peripheral auditory or visual targets, following uninformative cues on either side with an intermediate elevation. Judgments were better for targets in either modality when preceded by an uninformative auditory cue on the side of the target. Experiment 2 ruled out nonattentional accounts for these spatial cuing effects. Experiment 3 found that visual cues affected elevation judgments for visual but not auditory targets. Experiment 4 confirmed that the effect on visual targets was attentional. In Experiment 5, visual cues produced spatial cuing when targets were always auditory, but saccades toward the cue may have been responsible. No such visual-to-auditory cuing effects were found in Experiment 6 when saccades were prevented, though they were present when eye movements were not monitored. These results suggest a one-way cross-modal dependence in exogenous covert orienting whereby audition influences vision, but not vice versa. Possible reasons for this asymmetry are discussed in terms of the representation of space within the brain.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aitkin, L. (1986).The auditory midbrain. Clifton, NJ: Humana Press.
Annetts, C. S. J., Howse, B. P. A., Hutchings, M. E., & King, A. J. (1987). A digitally controlled vertical loop system for the presentation of free-field auditory and visual stimuli.Journal of Physiology,382, 21P.
Bédard, M. A., El Massioui, F., Pillon, B., &Nandrino, J. L. (1993). Time for reorienting of attention: A premotor hypothesis of the underlying mechanism.Neuropsychologia,31, 241–249.
Bernstein, I. H., &Edelstein, B. A. (1971). Effects of some variations in auditory input upon visual choice reaction time.Journal of Experimental Psychology,87, 241–247.
Briand, K. A., &Klein, R. M. (1986). Is Posner’s “Beam” the same as Treisman’s “Glue”?: On the relation between visual orienting and feature integration theory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,13, 228–241.
Brown, C. H., &May, B. (1989). Sound localization and binaural processes. In M. Berkley & W. Stebbins (Eds.),Comparative perception (pp. 247–284). New York: Wiley.
Buchtel, H. A., &Butter, C. M. (1988). Spatial attention shifts: Implications for the role of polysensory mechanisms.Neuropsychologia,26, 499–509.
Clarey, J. C., Barone, P., &Imig, T. J. (1992). Physiology of thalamus and cortex. In A. N. Popper & R. R. Fay (Eds.),The mammalian auditory pathway: Neurophysiology (pp. 232–334). New York: Springer-Verlag.
Clarkson, M. G., Swain, I. U., Clifton, R. K., &Cohen, K. (1991). Newborns’ head orientation toward trains of brief sounds.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,89, 2411–2420.
Cohen, A., &Ivry, R. [B.] (1989). Illusory conjunctions inside and outside the focus of attention.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,15, 650–663.
Cohen, A., &Ivry, R. B. (1991). Density effects in conjunction search: Evidence for a coarse location mechanism of feature integration.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,17, 891–901.
Cowey, A. (1985). Aspects of cortical organization related to selective impairments of visual perception: A tutorial review. In M. I. Posner & O. S. M. Marin (Eds.),Attention and performance XI (pp. 41–62). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Desimone, R., Wessinger, M., Thomas, L., &Schneider,W. (1992). Attentional control of visual perception: Cortical and subcortical mechanisms.Cold Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology,55, 963–971.
Dinnerstein, A. J., &Zlotogura, P. (1968). Intermodal perception of temporal order and motor skills: Effects of age.Perceptual & Motor Skills,26, 987–1000.
Driver, J., &Spence, C. J. (1994). Spatial synergies between auditory and visual attention. In C. Umiltà & M. Moscovitch (Eds.),Attention and performance XV: Conscious and nonconscious information processing (pp. 311–331). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Duncan, J. (1980). The demonstration of capacity limitation.Cognitive Psychology,12, 75–96.
Elfner, L. F., &Howse, W. R. (1987). Auditory localization in a free field using discrimination procedures.Journal of Auditory Research,27, 1–14.
Elliott, R. (1968). Simple visual and simple auditory reaction time: A comparison.Psychonomic Science,10, 335–336.
Farah, M. J., Wong, A. B., Monheit, M. A., &Morrow, L. A. (1989). Parietal lobe mechanisms of spatial attention: Modality-specific or supramodal?Neuropsychologia,27, 461–470.
Frick, R. W. (1995). Accepting the null hypothesis.Memory & Cognition,23, 132–138.
Gopher, D. (1973). Eye-movement patterns in selective listening tasks of focused attention.Perception & Psychophysics,14, 259–264.
Hafter, E. R., &De Maio, J. (1975). Difference thresholds for interaural delay.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,57, 181–187.
Harrison, J. M., &Irving, R. (1966). Visual and nonvisual auditory systems in mammals.Science,154, 738–743.
Hawkins, H. L., Hillyard, S. A., Luck, S. J., Mouloua, M., Downing, C. J., &Woodward, D. P. (1990). Visual attention modulates signal detectability.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,16, 802–811.
Heffner, R. S., &Heffner, H. E. (1992a). Evolution of sound localization in mammals. In D. B. Webster, R. R. Fay, & A. N. Popper (Eds.),The evolutionary biology of hearing (pp. 691–715). New York: Springer-Verlag.
Heffner, R. S., &Heffner, H. E. (1992b). Visual factors in sound localization in mammals.Journal of Comparative Neurology,317, 219–232.
Hublet, C., Morais, J., &Bertelson, P. (1976). Spatial constraints on focussed attention: Beyond the right side advantage.Perception,5, 3–8.
Hublet, C., Morais, J., &Bertelson, P. (1977). Spatial effects in speech perception in the absence of spatial competition.Perception,6, 461–466.
Irving, R., &Harrison, J. M. (1967). The superior olivary complex and audition: A comparative study.Journal of Comparative Neurology,130, 77–86.
Jones, B., &Kabanoff, B. (1975). Eye movements in auditory space perception.Perception & Psychophysics,17, 241–245.
Jonides, J. (1981). Voluntary vs. automatic control over the mind’s eye’s movement. In J. Long & A. [D.] Baddeley (Eds.),Attention and performance IX (pp. 187–203). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
King, A. J. (1993). A map of auditory space in the mammalian brain: Neural computation and development.Experimental Physiology,78, 559–590.
King, A. J., &Carlile, S. (1993). Changes induced in the representation of auditory space in the superior colliculus by rearing ferrets with binocular eyelid suture.Experimental Brain Research,94, 444–455.
King, A. J., Hutchings, M. E., Moore, D. R., &Blakemore, C. (1988). Developmental plasticity in the visual and auditory representations in the mammalian superior colliculus.Nature,332, 73–76.
Klein, R. M. (1994). Perceptual-motor expectancies interact with covert visual orienting under conditions of endogenous but not exogenous control.Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology,48, 167–181.
Klein, R. M., Brennan, M., & Gilani, A. (1987, November).Covert cross-modality orienting of attention in space. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Seattle.
Klein, R. M., Kingstone, A., &Pontefract, A. (1992). Orienting of visual attention. In K. Rayner (Ed.),Eye movements and visual cognition: Scene perception and reading (pp. 46–65). New York: Springer-Verlag.
Knudsen, E. I., &Brainard, M. S. (1991). Visual instruction of the neural map of auditory space in the developing optic tectum.Science,253, 85–87.
Knudsen, E. I., Esterly, S. D., &du Lac, S. (1991). Stretched and upside-down maps of auditory space in the optic tectum of blindreared owls: Acoustic basis and behavioral correlates.Journal of Neuroscience,11, 1727–1747.
Knudsen, E. I., Esterly, S. D., &Knudsen, P. F. (1984). Monaural occlusion alters sound localization during a sensitive period in the barn owl.Journal of Neuroscience,4, 1001–1011.
Luck, S. J., Hillyard, S. A., Mouloua, M., Woldorff, M. G., Clark, V. P., &Hawkins, H. L. (1994). Effects of spatial cuing on luminance detectability: Psychophysical and electrophysiological evidence for early selection.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,20, 887–904.
Mazzuchi, A., Cattelani, R., &Umiltà, C. (1983). Hemispheric prevalence in acoustical attention.Brain & Cognition,2, 1–11.
Middlebrooks, J. C., &Knudsen, E. I. (1984). A neural code for auditory space in the cat’s superior colliculus.Journal of Neuroscience,4, 2621–2634.
Mills, A. W. (1958). On the minimum audible angle.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,32, 132–134.
Muir, D., &Field, J. (1979). Newborn infants orient to sounds.Child Development,50, 431–436.
Müller, H. J., &Rabbitt, P. M. A. (1989). Reflexive and voluntary orienting of visual attention: Time course of activation and resistance to interruption.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,15, 315–330.
Neumann, O., Van der Heijden, A. H. C., &Allport, D. A. (1986). Visual selective attention: Introductory remarks.Psychological Research,48, 185–188.
Nicoletti, R., &Umiltà, C. (1989). Splitting visual space with attention.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,15, 164–169.
Niemi, P., &Näätänen, R. (1981). Foreperiod and simple reaction time.Psychological Bulletin,89, 133–162.
Palmer, A. R., &King, A. J. (1982). The representation of auditory space in the mammalian superior colliculus.Nature,299, 248–249.
Perrott, D. R., Saberi, K., Brown, K., &Strybel, T. Z. (1990). Auditory psychomotor coordination and visual search performance.Perception & Psychophysics,48, 214–226.
Platt, B. B., &Warren, D. H. (1972). Auditory localization: The importance of eye movements and a textured visual environment.Perception & Psychophysics,12, 245–248.
Posner, M. I. (1978).Chronometric explorations of mind. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Posner, M. I. (1980). Orienting of attention.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,32, 3–25.
Posner, M. I., &Cohen, Y. (1984). Components of visual orienting. In H. Bouma & D. G. Bouwhuis (Eds.),Attention and performance X: Control of language processes (pp. 531–556). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Posner, M. I., Rafal, R. D., Choate, L., &Vaughan, J. (1985). Inhibition of return: Neural basis and function.Cognitive Neuropsychology,2, 211–228.
Prinzmetal, W., Presti, D. E., &Posner, M. I. (1986). Does attention affect visual feature integration?Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,12, 361–369.
Pumphrey, R. J. (1950). Hearing.Symposium of the Society for Experimental Biology: Physiological Mechanisms in Animal Behavior,4, 3–18.
Quinlan, P. T., &Bailey, P. J. (1995). An examination of attentional control in the auditory modality: Further evidence for auditory orienting.Perception & Psychophysics,57, 614–628.
Rafal, R., Henik, A., &Smith, J. (1991). Extrageniculate contributions to reflex visual orienting in normal humans: A temporal hemifield advantage.Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience,3, 322–328.
Reisberg, D., Scheiber, R., &Potemken, L. (1981). Eye position and the control of auditory attention.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,7, 318–323.
Rhodes, G. (1987). Auditory attention and the representation of spatial information.Perception & Psychophysics,42, 1–14.
Rizzolatti, G., Riggio, L., Dascola, I., &Umiltà, C. (1987). Reorienting attention across the horizontal and vertical meridians: Evidence in favor of a premotor theory of attention.Neuropsychologia,25, 31–40.
Roffler, S. K., &Butler, R. A. (1968). Factors that influence the localization of sound in the vertical plane.Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,43, 1255–1259.
Rorden, C., & Driver, J. (1996).Does saccadic preparation affect auditory attention? Manuscript in preparation.
Rutschmann, J., &Link, R. (1964). Perception of temporal order of stimuli differing in sense mode and simple reaction time.Perceptual & Motor Skills,18, 345–352.
Scharf, B., Quigley, S., Aoki, C., Peachey, N., &Reeves, A. (1987). Focused auditory attention and frequency selectivity.Perception & Psychophysics,42, 215–223.
Shaw, M. L. (1980). Identifying attentional and decision-making components in information processing. In R. S. Nickerson (Ed.),Attention and performance VIII (pp. 277–296). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Shepherd, M., Findlay, J. M., &Hockey, R. J. (1986). The relationship between eye movements and spatial attention.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,38A, 475–491.
Simon, J. R., Acosta, E., Jr., &Mewaldt, S. P. (1975). Effect of locus of warning tone on auditory choice reaction time.Memory & Cognition,3, 167–170.
Simon, J. R., &Craft, J. L. (1970). Effects of an irrelevant auditory stimulus on visual choice reaction time.Journal of Experimental Psychology,86, 272–274.
Sokolov, E. N. (1963).Perception and the conditioned reflex. New York: Macmillan.
Sparks, D. L. (1988). Neural cartography: Sensory and motor maps in the superior colliculus.Brain, Behavior & Evolution,31, 49–56.
Sparks, D. L., &Hartwich-Young, R. (1989). The deep layers of the superior colliculus. In R. Wurtz & M. E. Goldberg (Eds.),The neurobiology of saccadic eye movements (pp. 213–255). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Spence, C. J., &Driver, J. (1994). Covert spatial orienting in audition: Exogenous and endogenous mechanisms facilitate sound localization.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,20, 555–574.
Spence, C. J., &Driver, J. (1996). Audiovisual links in endogenous covert spatial attention.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,22, 1005–1030.
Sperling G. (1984). A unified theory of attention and signal detection. In R. S. Parasuraman & D. R. Davies (Eds.),Varieties of attention (pp. 103–181). New York: Academic Press.
Stein, B. E. (1984). Multimodal representation in the superior colliculus and optic tectum. In H. Vanegas (Ed.),Comparative neurology of the optic tectum (pp. 819–841). New York: Plenum.
Stein, B. E., &Clamann, H. P. (1981). Control of pinna movements and sensorimotor register in cat superior colliculus.Brain, Behavior & Evolution,19, 180–192.
Stein, B. E., &Meredith, M. A. (1993).The merging of the senses. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Stein, B. E., Wallace, M. T., &Meredith, M. A. (1995). Neural mechanisms mediating attention and orientation to multisensory cues. In M. S. Gazzaniga (Ed.),The cognitive neurosciences (pp. 683–702). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Strybel, T. Z., Witty, A. M., &Perrott, D. R. (1992). Auditory apparent motion in the free field: The effects of stimulus duration and separation.Perception & Psychophysics,52, 139–143.
Tassinari, G., Aglioti, S., Chelazzi, L., Peru, A., &Berlucchi, G. (1994). Do peripheral non-informative cues induce early facilitation of target detection?Vision Research,34, 179–189.
Thompson, G. C., &Masterton, R. B. (1978). Brain stem auditory pathways involved in reflexive head orientation to sound.Journal of Neurophysiology,41, 1183–1202.
Tiao, Y.-C., &Blakemore, C. (1976). Functional organization in the superior colliculus of the golden hamster.Journal of Comparative Neurology,168, 483–504.
Treisman, A. M., &Gelade, G. (1980). A feature-integration theory of attention.Cognitive Psychology,12, 97–136.
Umiltà, C., &Nicoletti, R. (1985). Attention and coding effects in S-R compatibility due to irrelevant spatial cues. In M. I. Posner & O. S. M. Marin (Eds.),Attention and performance XI (pp. 457–471). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Ward, L. M. (1994). Supramodal and modality-specific mechanisms for stimulus-driven shifts of auditory and visual attention.Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology,48, 242–259.
Withington, D. J. (1992). The effect of binocular lid suture on auditory responses in the guinea-pig superior colliculus.Neuroscience Letters,136, 153–156.
Withington-Wray, D. J., Binns, K. E., Dhanjal, S. S., Brickley, S. G., &Keating, M. J. (1990). The maturation of the superior collicular map of auditory space in the guinea pig is disrupted by developmental auditory deprivation.European Journal of Neuroscience,2, 693–703.
Wurtz, R. H., Goldberg, M. E., &Robinson, D. L. (1982). Brain mechanisms of visual attention.Scientific American,246 (6), 100–107.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This work was supported by grants from the Medical Research Council (UK) and by a Junior Research Fellowship awarded to the first author from St. John’s College, Cambridge.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Spence, C., Driver, J. Audiovisual links in exogenous covert spatial orienting. Perception & Psychophysics 59, 1–22 (1997). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03206843
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03206843