Asymmetrical audiovisual perception in temporal order judgment

摘要

To elucidate time perception using auditory and visual information, a temporal order judgment task was employed using a pip auditory signal and a Gabor visual signal. Timing was manipulated by changing onset asynchrony of the auditory and visual signals. Participants were asked which of visual or auditory signals were perceived to come earlier or simultaneous (1) when the visual and auditory signals were presented simultaneously, (2) when the auditory signal was presented prior to the visual signal, and (3) when the visual signal was presented prior to the auditory signal. The participants reported simultaneity by 96% when the visual and auditory signals were presented on time. They reported that auditory signal came faster by 92% when the auditory signal onset came earlier. However, they reported simultaneity by 75% when the visual signal onset came earlier up to 200ms onset asynchrony. This discrepancy of simultaneity between visual and auditory signal onset may be due to different processing time of the brain for visual and auditory signals that affects the process of cross-modal events.