Abstract
Research with aurally-aided visual search has demonstrated that a spatial auditory cue facilitates detection of a visual target. By varying both the informativeness of the cue and the amplitude of the cue, this study sought to evaluate the underlying attentional mechanisms involved in this facilitation. In varying informativeness, the auditory cue was either located at the exact location of a target (valid) or at a random location on the opposite lateral side of the target (invalid); the percentage of valid cues (vs. invalid cues) varied at 5%, 25% and 95%. These percentages indicated precise target location (95%), general target location (5%) and minimal information regarding target location (25%). The amplitude of the auditory cue varied at 40dB and 70 dB. The results indicated that the observer can control the allocation of attention toward the target, and that cues indicating general locations are processed differently that cues indicating specific target locations.
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