A ventriloquist ably induces the perception that his/her voice comes from puppets. As represented by this ventriloquism effect, it has been reported that visual information has a strong effect on auditory perception. Recently, a research group (Tohoku University and National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)) has found that sounds can drive visual motion perception to a static image. This pioneer finding indicates that auditory information can strongly affect visual perception in space.

 The study demonstrated that a visual image (white bar) blinking at a fixed position appeared to be moving laterally when it was accompanied with alternating left-right sounds presented through headphones. It was also found that the effect of sounds on visual perception became stronger when the visual image was less visible in the peripheral vision, and the onset timings were synchronized between the visual image and sounds. These results could be based on the multisensory (or multimodal) integration mechanisms in the brain at which different sensory information such as visual and auditory inputs are merged. The findings will dramatically accelerate the research regarding the multisensory integration mechanisms in the brain and the development of multimedia technologies with high sense of presence.

 This research was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Specially Promoted Research (Subject of the project: The spatiotemporal integration of multimodal sensations, from 2007 to 2012) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). In this project, the research group has worked on the clarification of the mechanism of the spatiotemporal integration of multimodal sensations in order to establish communication systems with high sense of presence and sense of reality. The members in this study are as follows; Souta Hidaka (Ph.D candidate) and Jiro Gyoba (Professor) at Graduate School of Arts and Letters, Tohoku University, Yôiti Suzuki (Professor), Yukio Iwaya (Associate Professor), Ryota Miyauchi (Assistant Professor, the current affiliation is Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), and Wataru Teramoto (Postdoctoral researcher) at Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, and Yoichi Sugita (Group coordinator) and Yuko Manaka (Technical assistant) at Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences Group, Neuroscience Research Institute, AIST.

 The findings were published online as a paper in Public Library of Science (PLoS) ONE on December 7, 2009. The title of this paper is: Alternation of Sound Location Induces Visual Motion Perception of a Static Object.

[Contact]
Souta Hidaka
E-mail: hidaka@sal.tohoku.ac.jp
Jiro Gyoba, Professor
E-mail: gyoba@sal.tohoku.ac.jp
Graduate School of Arts and Letters, Tohoku University
Address: 27-1 Kawauchi Aoba-ku Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8576 Japan
TEL: +81 22 795 6048

Wataru Teramoto
E-mail: teraw@ais.riec.tohoku.ac.jp
Yukio Iwaya, Associate Professor
E-mail: iwaya@ais.riec.tohoku.ac.jp
Yôiti Suzuki, Professor
E-mail: suzuki@ais.riec.tohoku.ac.jp
Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University
Address: 2-1-1 Katahira Aoba-ku Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8577 Japan
TEL: +81 22 217 5461

Yoichi Sugita
E-mail: y.sugita@aist.go.jp
Neuroscience Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
Address: 1497-1 Kashiwayama Teragu Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 300-4201 Japan
TEL: +81 29 869 1921

[Public Relations]

Administrative Staff

Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University

Address: 2-1-1 Katahira Aoba-ku Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8577 Japan

TEL: +81 22 217 5422, FAX: +81 22 217 5426