Sound-Evoked Visual Field Shifts: Interaction with Five Classes of Stimulation

摘要

Visual field displacements evoked by acoustical transients in human beings have been described previously. the influence of several variables on this phenomenon was examined in five studies. Experiment I investigated the interaction between acoustical stimulation and angular acceleration. The results of this experiment support the view that the acoustical transients activate semicircular canal receptors. The influence of head vibration on acoustical transient-evoked visual field displacements was examined in Experiment II. Smaller visual field displacements were reported when head vibration was presented simultaneously with the acoustical stimulation, probably because the head vibration activated the middle ear reflex. No changes in acoustical stimulus-evoked visual field displacements following exposure to a rotating visual field (Experiment III) or as a function of visual target illumination intensity (Experiment IV) were observed. Finally, alcohol ingesting (Experiment V) reduced the magnitudes of the visual field displacement reported by the subjects. (Author)