Auditory Arousal in Recognition of Visual Stimuli

Abstract

Previous research indicates that human performance in the presence of intermittent noise is superior to that in the presence of constant noise or in quiet. This increased performance was attributed to the arousing qualities of the intermittent noise. Other research has suggested that subjects are not immediately aroused upon perceiving a noise but rather after a short period of time has elapsed (approximately 0.4 sec.). This study examined both hypotheses and showed (1) that subjects (n = 11) who heard a noise immediately before viewing each of 10 random shapes could later recognize more of those shapes than could subjects who either heard the noise during the visual display (n = 11) or heard no noise at all (n = 11), and (2) that the subjects who heard the noise during the visual display could perform no better than those who had heard no noise.