Visual load effects on the auditory steady state responses to 20-, 40-, and 80-Hz amplitude-modulated tones

• Ignoring background sounds while focusing on a visual task is a necessary ability in everyday life. If attentional resources are shared between modalities, processing of task-irrelevant auditory information should become attenuated when attentional capacity is exhausted by visual demands. According to earlyfilter theory, top-down attenuation of auditory responses is possible at various stages of the auditory pathway through multiple recurrent loops. Furthermore, the adaptive filtering model of selective attention suggests that filtering occurs early when concurrent visual tasks are demanding (e.g., high load) and late when tasks are easy (e.g., low load). This study examined effects of visual load on auditory steady state responses (ASSRs) to determine where in the auditory pathway the filtering occurs. Subjects performed a visual task with three levels of load (no, low, and high) while ignoring task-irrelevant sounds. The auditory stimuli were 500-Hz tones amplitude-modulated at 20 Hz, 40 Hz, or 80 Hz to target different processing stages of the auditory pathway. Results from bayesian analyses suggest that ASSRs are unaffected by visual load. These findings also suggest that attentional resources are modality specific and that the attentional filter of auditory processing does not vary with visual task demands.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi -- Tillämpad psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology -- Applied Psychology (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

crossmodal attention

auditory steady state responses

early-filter model

visual load

task difficulty

amplitude-modulated tone

Psychology

psykologi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)