TY - JOUR
T1 - Audiovisual integration in low vision individuals
AU - Targher, Stefano
AU - Occelli, Valeria
AU - Zampini, Massimiliano
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was conducted in collaboration with the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired (UIC), the local section of the Institute for Research Training and Rehabilitation (IRiFoR), and the Presidium of Ophthalmology Hospital Santa Chiara in Trento. ST is supported by a grant provided by ‘Fondazione Trentino Università’ (FTU) . This study has been realized also thanks to the support from the ‘Provincia autonoma di Trento’ and the ‘Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Trento e Rovereto’ .
PY - 2012/4/1
Y1 - 2012/4/1
N2 - Behavioral and neurophysiological studies have shown an enhancement of visual perception in crossmodal audiovisual stimulation conditions, both for sensitivity and reaction times, when the stimulation in the two sensory modalities occurs in condition of space and time congruency. The purpose of the present work is to verify whether congruent visual and acoustic stimulations can improve the detection of visual stimuli in people affected by low vision. Participants were asked to detect the presence of a visual stimulus (yes/no task) either presented in isolation (i.e., unimodal visual stimulation) or simultaneously with auditory stimuli, which could be placed in the same spatial position (i.e., crossmodal congruent conditions) or in different spatial positions (i.e., crossmodal incongruent conditions). The results show for the first time audiovisual integration effects in low vision individuals. In particular, it has been observed a significant visual detection benefit in the crossmodal congruent as compared to the unimodal visual condition. This effect is selective for visual stimulation that occurs in the portion of visual field that is impaired, and disappears in the region of space in which vision is spared. Surprisingly, there is a marginal crossmodal benefit when the sound is presented at 16 degrees far from the visual stimulus. The observed crossmodal effect seems to be determined by the contribution of both senses to a model of optimal combination, in which the most reliable provides the highest contribution. These results, indicating a significant beneficial effect of synchronous and spatially congruent sounds in a visual detection task, seem very promising for the development of a rehabilitation approach of low vision diseases based on the principles of multisensory integration.
AB - Behavioral and neurophysiological studies have shown an enhancement of visual perception in crossmodal audiovisual stimulation conditions, both for sensitivity and reaction times, when the stimulation in the two sensory modalities occurs in condition of space and time congruency. The purpose of the present work is to verify whether congruent visual and acoustic stimulations can improve the detection of visual stimuli in people affected by low vision. Participants were asked to detect the presence of a visual stimulus (yes/no task) either presented in isolation (i.e., unimodal visual stimulation) or simultaneously with auditory stimuli, which could be placed in the same spatial position (i.e., crossmodal congruent conditions) or in different spatial positions (i.e., crossmodal incongruent conditions). The results show for the first time audiovisual integration effects in low vision individuals. In particular, it has been observed a significant visual detection benefit in the crossmodal congruent as compared to the unimodal visual condition. This effect is selective for visual stimulation that occurs in the portion of visual field that is impaired, and disappears in the region of space in which vision is spared. Surprisingly, there is a marginal crossmodal benefit when the sound is presented at 16 degrees far from the visual stimulus. The observed crossmodal effect seems to be determined by the contribution of both senses to a model of optimal combination, in which the most reliable provides the highest contribution. These results, indicating a significant beneficial effect of synchronous and spatially congruent sounds in a visual detection task, seem very promising for the development of a rehabilitation approach of low vision diseases based on the principles of multisensory integration.
KW - Audiovisual
KW - Low vision
KW - Multisensory integration
KW - Principle of inverse effectiveness
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U2 - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.10.021
DO - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.10.021
M3 - Article (journal)
C2 - 22056506
AN - SCOPUS:84858442101
SN - 0028-3932
VL - 50
SP - 576
EP - 582
JO - Neuropsychologia
JF - Neuropsychologia
IS - 5
ER -