ERIC Number: EJ1156142
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017-Oct
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1081-4159
EISSN: N/A
Multisensory Interference in Early Deaf Adults
Heimler, Benedetta; Baruffaldi, Francesca; Bonmassar, Claudia; Venturini, Marta; Pavani, Francesco
Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, v22 n4 p422-433 Oct 2017
Multisensory interactions in deaf cognition are largely unexplored. Unisensory studies suggest that behavioral/neural changes may be more prominent for visual compared to tactile processing in early deaf adults. Here we test whether such an asymmetry results in increased saliency of vision over touch during visuo-tactile interactions. About 23 early deaf and 25 hearing adults performed two consecutive visuo-tactile spatial interference tasks. Participants responded either to the elevation of the tactile target while ignoring a concurrent visual distractor at central or peripheral locations (respond to touch/ignore vision), or they performed the opposite task (respond to vision/ignore touch). Multisensory spatial interference emerged in both tasks for both groups. Crucially, deaf participants showed increased interference compared to hearing adults when they attempted to respond to tactile targets and ignore visual distractors, with enhanced difficulties with ipsilateral visual distractors. Analyses on task-order revealed that in deaf adults, interference of visual distractors on tactile targets was much stronger when this task followed the task in which vision was behaviorally relevant (respond to vision/ignore touch). These novel results suggest that behavioral/neural changes related to early deafness determine enhanced visual dominance during visuo-tactile multisensory conflict.
Descriptors: Interference (Learning), Deafness, Adults, Multisensory Learning, Spatial Ability, Comparative Analysis, Correlation, Task Analysis
Oxford University Press. Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, UK. Tel: +44-1865-353907; Fax: +44-1865-353485; e-mail: jnls.cust.serv@oxfordjournals.org; Web site: http://jdsde.oxfordjournals.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A