RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Auditory Figure-Ground Segregation is Impaired by High Visual Load
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 216846
DO 10.1101/216846
A1 Molloy, Katharine
A1 Lavie, Nilli
A1 Chait, Maria
YR 2017
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/11/09/216846.abstract
AB Figure-ground segregation is fundamental to listening in complex acoustic environments. An ongoing debate pertains to whether segregation requires attention or is ‘automatic’ and pre-attentive. In this magnetoencephalography (MEG) study we tested a prediction derived from Load Theory of attention1 that segregation requires attention, but can benefit from the automatic allocation of any ‘leftover’ capacity under low load. Complex auditory scenes were modelled with Stochastic Figure Ground stimuli (SFG2) which occasionally contained repeated frequency component ‘figures’. Naive human subjects passively listened to these signals while performing a visual attention task of either low or high load. Whilst clear figure-related neural responses were observed under conditions of low load, high visual load essentially abolished the neural response to the figure in auditory cortex (Planum Temporale, Heschl’s gyrus). We conclude that fundamental figure-ground segregation in hearing is not automatic but draws on shared resources across vision and audition.