Bimodal Information Processing In A Sonar Task.

Abstract

Target stimuli above noise backgrounds were presented to 28 men in either the visual or auditory modality, or in both at once. Subjects responded as quickly as possible whether or not a particular target was presented. Reaction times were not affected when subjects had to divide their attention between two modalities. In fact, the choice response in the dual-mode condition was as fast as the faster single modality (auditory) and more accurate then either single modality. However, when conflicting targets were presented to two modalities at once, response accuracy was lowered. The results support the findings of Lewandowski and Kobus (14) that the speed of detection and recognition of sonar-like targets is faster when the information is presented to two modalities at once and the information in each modality is functionally the same. (Author)