Authors:

Kong, Y., Zhao, C., Li, D., Li, B., Hu, Y., Liu, H., WOOLGAR, A., Guo, J., Song, Y.

Reference:

Year of publication:

In Press

CBU number:

8984

Abstract:

While the auditory and visual systems each provide distinct information to our brain, they also work together to process and prioritize input to address ever-changing conditions. Previous studies highlighted the trade-off between auditory change detection and visual selective attention, however, the relationship between them is still unclear. Here, we recorded electroencephalography signals from 106 healthy adults in three experiments. Our findings revealed a positive correlation at the population level between the amplitudes of ERP indices associated with auditory change detection (MMN) and visual selective attention (N2pc) when elicited in separate tasks. This correlation persisted even when participants performed a visual task while disregarding simultaneous auditory stimuli. Interestingly, as visual attention demand increased, participants whose N2pc amplitude increased the most exhibited the largest reduction in MMN, suggesting a within-subject trade-off between the two processes. Taken together, our results suggest an intimate relationship and potential shared mechanism between auditory change detection and visual selective attention. We liken this to a total capacity limit that varies between individuals, which could drive correlated individual differences in auditory change detection and visual selective attention, and also within-subject competition between the two, with task-based modulation of visual attention causing within-participant decrease in auditory change detection sensitivity.

Data available, click to request