Project

Audiovisual Processing in the Third Dimension: How (Expected) Properties of 3D Stimuli Influence Audiovisual Integration

Code
11PEL24N
Duration
01 November 2023 → 31 October 2027
Funding
Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)
Promotor
Research disciplines
  • Social sciences
    • Cognitive processes
    • Sensory processes and perception
Keywords
Multisensory processing Predictive coding Audiovisual integration
 
Project description

In the field of multisensory processing and, in particular, audiovisual integration, there is one aspect that is clearly present in everyday life but is usually an absent factor in scientific studies: depth. The fact that we live in a 3D world and that therefore objects have properties related to their spatial location is a key difference between lab research and real everyday perception. Fortunately, technological advances (e.g., virtual reality) have opened doors to investigate perception closer to reality. Therefore, the main aim of this project is to investigate how spatial properties of stimuli in 3D environments impact audiovisual processing. We aim to fill the current gaps in literature by 1) investigating the influence of spatial properties of audiovisual stimuli on audiovisual integration, 2) testing whether the probability to integrate spatially mismatched audiovisual stimuli is dependent on spatial location, 3) testing whether (expected) reliability of visual stimuli has different effects on auditory localisation, and 4) investigating how semantic knowledge about our environment influences orientation to spatially discrepant audiovisual stimuli. This project’s findings will enrich our knowledge on audiovisual processing in 3D environments. Furthermore, this project would be an example of how perception can be studied using new 3D presentation technologies.