Abstract
Recent evidence suggests that visual-auditory cue integration may change as a function of age such that integration is heightened among older adults. Our goal was to determine whether these changes in multisensory integration are also observed in the context of self-motion perception under realistic task constraints. Thus, we developed a simulated driving paradigm in which we provided older and younger adults with visual motion cues (i.e., optic flow) and systematically manipulated the presence or absence of congruent auditory cues to self-motion (i.e., engine, tire, and wind sounds). Results demonstrated that the presence or absence of congruent auditory input had different effects on older and younger adults. Both age groups demonstrated a reduction in speed variability when auditory cues were present compared to when they were absent, but older adults demonstrated a proportionally greater reduction in speed variability under combined sensory conditions. These results are consistent with evidence indicating that multisensory integration is heightened in older adults. Importantly, this study is the first to provide evidence to suggest that age differences in multisensory integration may generalize from simple stimulus detection tasks to the integration of the more complex and dynamic visual and auditory cues that are experienced during self-motion.
Highlights
The events that occur around us typically stimulate more than one sensory system simultaneously
There is growing evidence to suggest that the manner in which visual and auditory sensory inputs are integrated may change in late adulthood, but most of this evidence is derived from simple stimulus detection or stimulus discrimination tasks (e.g., Laurienti et al, 2006)
The goal of the present study was to determine whether evidence of age differences in visual-auditory cue integration would be observed in the context of real-world multisensory tasks that involve continuous and dynamic sensory inputs
Summary
The events that occur around us typically stimulate more than one sensory system simultaneously. A growing body of evidence indicates, that this process may change with age (Laurienti et al, 2006; Peiffer et al, 2007; Mozolic et al, 2012). This is evidenced by the observation that the magnitude of the performance gains associated with congruent visual and auditory inputs is greater among older adults than it is among younger adults (e.g., Laurienti et al, 2006; Peiffer et al, 2007). Much of the current evidence to suggest that there are age differences
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