Directing eye gaze enhances auditory spatial cue discrimination.

ABSTRACT: The present study demonstrates, for the first time, a specific enhancement of auditory spatial cue discrimination due to eye gaze. Whereas the region of sharpest visual acuity, called the fovea, can be directed at will by moving one's eyes, auditory spatial information is derived primarily from head-related acoustic cues. Past auditory studies have found better discrimination in front of the head [1-3] but have not manipulated subjects' gaze, thus overlooking potential oculomotor influences. Electrophysiological studies have shown that the inferior colliculus, a critical auditory midbrain nucleus, shows visual and oculomotor responses [4-6] and modulations of auditory activity [7-9], and that auditory neurons in the superior colliculus show shifting receptive fields [10-13]. How the audito

SUBMITTER: Maddox RK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3977936 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature