Data from: 'Object correspondence in audition echoes vision: Not only spatiotemporal but also feature information influences auditory apparent motion'

A crucial ability of our cognition is the perception of objects and their motions. We can perceive objects as moving by connecting them across space and time. This is possible even when the objects are not present continuously, as in the case of apparent motion displays like the Ternus display, consisting of two sets of stimuli, shifted to the left or right, separated by a variable inter-stimulus interval (ISI). This is an ambiguous display, as depending on which stimuli are connected over time, it can be perceived as both stimuli moving uniformly to the right (group motion) or one stimulus moving across the stationary center stimulus (element motion). Which percept is seen can be influenced by the ISI and the stimulus features. Previous experiments have shown that the Ternus effect also exists in the auditory modality and that the auditory Ternus is dependent on the ISI. This is a first indication that correspondence might work similarly in the visual and auditory modality. To test this idea further, we investigated whether the auditory Ternus effect is dependent on the stimulus features by creating a frequency-based bias using a high and a low sinewave tone as Ternus stimuli. This bias was either compatible with the element motion or with the group motion percept. Our results showed an influence of this feature bias in addition to an ISI effect, suggesting that the visual and the auditory modalities might both use the same mechanism to connect objects across space and time.人类认知的一项核心能力，是对物体及其运动的知觉。我们能够通过在空间与时间维度上对物体进行跨时空联结，感知到物体的运动。即使物体并非持续呈现，例如类似特纳斯显示（Ternus display）的似动现象刺激范式，这一能力依然可行。特纳斯显示包含两组刺激物，会向左或向右偏移，且刺激间间隔（inter-stimulus interval, ISI）的时长可变。该范式属于歧义性刺激显示：根据不同的跨时间联结方式，观察者既可以感知到两组刺激物整体向右匀速运动（整体运动（group motion）知觉），也可以感知到一组刺激物越过静止的中心刺激物运动（元素运动（element motion）知觉）。最终被感知到的知觉结果，会受到ISI与刺激特征的影响。过往实验已证实，特纳斯效应在听觉模态中同样存在，且听觉特纳斯效应依赖于ISI时长。这一发现首次表明，跨时空联结物体的对应匹配机制，可能在视觉与听觉模态中具有相似性。为进一步验证这一观点，本研究通过使用高频与低频正弦音调（sinewave tone）作为听觉特纳斯范式的刺激物，构建基于频率的知觉偏向，以此探究听觉特纳斯效应是否受刺激特征的调控。该频率偏向要么与元素运动知觉相容，要么与整体运动知觉相容。实验结果显示，除ISI效应外，该特征偏向同样会对知觉结果产生影响，这表明视觉与听觉模态或许共享同一套跨时空联结物体的认知机制。