Abstract
High perceptual load in a task is known to reduce the visual perception of unattended items (e.g., Lavie, Beck, & Konstantinou, 2014). However, it remains an open question whether perceptual load in one modality (e.g., vision) can affect the detection of stimuli in another modality (e.g., hearing). We report four experiments that establish that high visual perceptual load leads to reduced detection sensitivity in hearing. Participants were requested to detect a tone that was presented during performance of a visual search task of either low or high perceptual load (varied through item similarity). The findings revealed that auditory detection sensitivity was consistently reduced with higher load, and that this effect persisted even when the auditory detection response was made first (before the search response) and when the auditory stimulus was highly expected (50 % present). These findings demonstrate a phenomenon of load-induced deafness and provide evidence for shared attentional capacity across vision and hearing.
Highlights
High perceptual load in a task is known to reduce the visual perception of unattended items (e.g., Lavie, Beck, & Konstantinou, 2014)
This cross-modal effect is consistent with the results found by Macdonald and Lavie (2011), which provide preliminary behavioral evidence to suggest that a high level of visual perceptual load can result in inattentional deafness
Experiment 1 In Experiment 1, participants were presented with a visual search task in which the level of perceptual load was manipulated through the similarity of the target and nontarget letters (e.g., Lavie & Cox, 1997)
Summary
High perceptual load in a task is known to reduce the visual perception of unattended items (e.g., Lavie, Beck, & Konstantinou, 2014). Experiment 1 In Experiment 1, participants were presented with a visual search task in which the level of perceptual load was manipulated through the similarity of the target and nontarget letters (e.g., Lavie & Cox, 1997).
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