The individual differences analysis of audiovisual bounce-inducing effects

Abstract

The audiovisual bounce-inducing effect (ABE) is a phenomenon that the brain integrates spatial and temporal information from different sensory modalities of vision and hearing. At present, some researchers have conducted research on the individual differences of the ABE, but have not considered the factor of audiovisual stimulus intervals. This study investigated the neural mechanisms underlying the intra- and inter-individual differences in subjects' ABE at different audiovisual stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). This study adopted the experimental paradigm of Stream/Bounce illusion, in which visual and auditory stimuli were presented in 7 different SOAs. We recorded behavioral and EEG data during the experiment, compared and analyzed the amplitude differences of event-related potentials (ERPs), calculated statistical indicators, and studied the intra- and inter-individual differences of the ABE under different SOAs. The results show that in terms of the inter-individual differences in the ABE, the amplitude of N1 is more significant in the High ABE Group than the Low ABE Group at SOAs of “V100A” and “0”. Individual ABE tendencies are also significantly correlated with N1 amplitude at the two SOAs. These results reveal the effect of stimuli interval on the processing of audiovisual stimuli, there is a complex interplay between the individual's sensory processing mechanisms and the specific temporal dynamics of audiovisual integration.