Auditory pitch glides influence time-to-contact judgements of visual stimuli

Auditory affective content facilitates time-to-contact estimation of visual affective targets

Reacting to a moving object requires an ability to estimate when a moving object reaches its destination, also referred to as the time-to-contact (TTC) estimation. Although the TTC estimation of threatening visually moving objects is known to be underestimated, the effect of the affective content of auditory information on visual TTC estimation remains unclear. We manipulated the velocity and presentation time to investigate the TTC of a threat or non-threat target with the addition of auditory information. In the task, a visual or an audiovisual target moved from right to left and disappeared behind an occluder. Participants' task was to estimate the TTC of the target, they needed to press a button when they thought that the target contacted a destination behind the occluder. Behaviorally, the additional auditory affective content facilitated TTC estimation; velocity was a more critical factor than presentation time in determining the audiovisual threat facilitation effect. Overall, the results indicate that exposure to auditory affective content can influence TTC estimation and that the effect of velocity on TTC estimation will provide more information than presentation time.

Induction Mechanism of Auditory-Assisted Vision for Target Search Localization in Mixed Reality (MR) Environments

In MR (mixed reality) environments, visual searches are often used for search and localization missions. There are some problems with search and localization technologies, such as a limited field of view and information overload. They are unable to satisfy the need for the rapid and precise location of specific flying objects in a group of air and space targets under modern air and space situational requirements. They lead to inefficient interactions throughout the mission process. A human being’s decision and judgment will be affected by inefficient interactions. Based on this problem, we carried out a multimodal optimization study on the use of an auditory-assisted visual search for localization in an MR environment. In the spatial–spherical coordinate system, the target flight object position is uniquely determined by the height h, distance r, and azimuth θ. Therefore, there is an urgent need to study the cross-modal connections between the auditory elements and these three coordinates based on a visual search. In this paper, an experiment was designed to study the correlation between auditory intuitive perception and vision and the cognitive induction mechanism. The experiment included the three cross-modal mappings of pitch–height, volume–distance, and vocal tract alternation–spatial direction. The research conclusions are as follows: (1) Visual cognition is induced by high, medium, and low pitches to be biased towards the high, medium, and low spatial regions of the visual space. (2) Visual cognition is induced by loud, medium, and low volumes to be biased towards the near, middle, and far spatial regions of the visual space. (3) Based on the HRTF application, the vocal track alternation scheme is expected to significantly improve the efficiency of visual interactions. Visual cognition is induced by left short sounds, right short sounds, left short and long sounds, and right short and long sounds to be biased towards the left, right, left-rear, and right-rear directions of visual space. (4) The cognitive load of search and localization technologies is significantly reduced by incorporating auditory factors. In addition, the efficiency and effect of the accurate search and positioning of space-flying objects have been greatly improved. The above findings can be applied to the research on various types of target search and localization technologies in an MR environment and can provide a theoretical basis for the subsequent study of spatial information perception and cognitive induction mechanisms in an MR environment with visual–auditory coupling.

The influence of auditory rhythms on the speed of inferred motion

The present research explored the influence of isochronous auditory rhythms on the timing of movement-related prediction in two experiments. In both experiments, participants observed a moving disc that was visible for a predetermined period before disappearing behind a small, medium, or large occluded area for the remainder of its movement. In Experiment 1, the disc was visible for 1 s. During this period, participants were exposed to either a fast or slow auditory rhythm, or they heard nothing. They were instructed to press a key to indicate when they believed the moving disc had reached a specified location on the other side of the occluded area. The procedure measured the (signed) error in participants' estimate of the time it would take for a moving object to contact a stationary one. The principal results of Experiment 1 were main effects of the rate of the auditory rhythm and of the size of the occlusion on participants' judgments. In Experiment 2, the period of visibility was varied with size of the occlusion area to keep the total movement time constant for all three levels of occlusion. The results replicated the main effect of rhythm found in Experiment 1 and showed a small, significant interaction, but indicated no main effect of occlusion size. Overall, the results indicate that exposure to fast isochronous auditory rhythms during an interval of inferred motion can influence the imagined rate of such motion and suggest a possible role of an internal rhythmicity in the maintenance of temporally accurate dynamic mental representations.