Spatial grouping resolves ambiguity to drive temporal recalibration.

Cross-modal temporal recalibration describes a shift in the point of subjective simultaneity (PSS) between 2 events following repeated exposure to asynchronous cross-modal inputs--the adaptors. Previous research suggested that audiovisual recalibration is insensitive to the spatial relationship between the adaptors. Here we show that audiovisual recalibration can be driven by cross-modal spatial grouping. Twelve participants adapted to alternating trains of lights and tones. Spatial position was manipulated, with alternating sequences of a light then a tone, or a tone then a light, presented on either side of fixation (e.g., left tone--left light--right tone--right light, etc.). As the events were evenly spaced in time, in the absence of spatial-based grouping it would be unclear if tones were leading or lagging lights. However, any grouping of spatially colocalized cross-modal events would result in an unambiguous sense of temporal order. We found that adapting to these stimuli caused the PSS between subsequent lights and tones to shift toward the temporal relationship implied by spatial-based grouping. These data therefore show that temporal recalibration is facilitated by spatial grouping.

[1]  C. Spence,et al.  The Handbook of Multisensory Processing , 2004 .

[2]  M Di Luca,et al.  Recalibration of audiovisual simultaneity , 2010 .

[3]  D. Bavelier,et al.  Components of visual prior entry , 2003, Cognitive Psychology.

[4]  F A Wichmann,et al.  Ning for Helpful Comments and Suggestions. This Paper Benefited Con- Siderably from Conscientious Peer Review, and We Thank Our Reviewers the Psychometric Function: I. Fitting, Sampling, and Goodness of Fit , 2001 .

[5]  Albert S. Bregman,et al.  The Auditory Scene. (Book Reviews: Auditory Scene Analysis. The Perceptual Organization of Sound.) , 1990 .

[6]  Neil W. Roach,et al.  Attention regulates the plasticity of multisensory timing , 2010, The European journal of neuroscience.

[7]  Jean Vroomen,et al.  No effect of auditory–visual spatial disparity on temporal recalibration , 2007, Experimental Brain Research.

[8]  Charles Spence,et al.  Exposure to asynchronous audiovisual speech extends the temporal window for audiovisual integration. , 2005, Brain research. Cognitive brain research.

[9]  P. Bertelson,et al.  Recalibration of temporal order perception by exposure to audio-visual asynchrony. , 2004, Brain research. Cognitive brain research.

[10]  J. Juola,et al.  Audiovisual synchrony and temporal order judgments: Effects of experimental method and stimulus type , 2008, Perception & psychophysics.

[11]  Shin'ya Nishida,et al.  The sliding window of audio-visual simultaneity. , 2009, Journal of vision.

[12]  J. Vroomen,et al.  Perception of intersensory synchrony: A tutorial review , 2010, Attention, perception & psychophysics.

[13]  Charles Spence,et al.  Temporal recalibration during asynchronous audiovisual speech perception , 2007, Experimental Brain Research.

[14]  C. Spence,et al.  Multisensory Integration: Space, Time and Superadditivity , 2005, Current Biology.

[15]  John J. Foxe,et al.  Multisensory Convergence in Early Cortical Processing. , 2004 .

[16]  C. Spence,et al.  Adaptation to audiovisual asynchrony modulates the speeded detection of sound , 2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[17]  Derek H. Arnold,et al.  Shifts of criteria or neural timing? The assumptions underlying timing perception studies , 2011, Consciousness and Cognition.

[18]  C. Spence,et al.  Audiovisual temporal adaptation of speech: temporal order versus simultaneity judgments , 2008, Experimental Brain Research.

[19]  L. Harris,et al.  The effect of exposure to asynchronous audio, visual, and tactile stimulus combinations on the perception of simultaneity , 2008, Experimental Brain Research.

[20]  John A. Nelder,et al.  A Simplex Method for Function Minimization , 1965, Comput. J..

[21]  D. Whitaker,et al.  Recalibration of perceived time across sensory modalities , 2008, Experimental Brain Research.

[22]  T. Stanford,et al.  Multisensory integration: current issues from the perspective of the single neuron , 2008, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[23]  R. O'Neill.  Algorithm AS 47: Function Minimization Using a Simplex Procedure , 1971 .

[24]  Massimiliano Di Luca,et al.  Recalibration of multisensory simultaneity: cross-modal transfer coincides with a change in perceptual latency. , 2009, Journal of vision.

[25]  Waka Fujisaki,et al.  Temporal frequency characteristics of synchrony–asynchrony discrimination of audio-visual signals , 2005, Experimental Brain Research.