Age Differences in Visual-Auditory Self-Motion Perception during a Simulated Driving Task

Abstract

Recent evidence suggests that visual-auditory cue integration may change as a function of age such that integration is heightened among older adults. Our goal was to determine whether these changes in multisensory integration are also observed in the context of self-motion perception under realistic task constraints. Thus, we developed a simulated driving paradigm in which we provided older and younger adults with visual motion cues (i.e., optic flow) and systematically manipulated the presence or absence of congruent auditory cues to self-motion (i.e., engine, tire, and wind sounds). Results demonstrated that the presence or absence of congruent auditory input had different effects on older and younger adults. Both age groups demonstrated a reduction in speed variability when auditory cues were present compared to when they were absent, but older adults demonstrated a proportionally greater reduction in speed variability under combined sensory conditions. These results are consistent with evidence indicating that multisensory integration is heightened in older adults. Importantly, this study is the first to provide evidence to suggest that age differences in multisensory integration may generalize from simple stimulus detection tasks to the integration of the more complex and dynamic visual and auditory cues that are experienced during self-motion.

Multisensory Augmented Reality in Cultural Heritage: Impact of Different Stimuli on Presence, Enjoyment, Knowledge and Value of the Experience

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Audiovisual Temporal Perception in Aging: The Role of Multisensory Integration and Age-Related Sensory Loss

“…Recent reviews indicate that aging increases integration across a range of perceptual domains and behaviors ( Freiherr et al, 2013 ; de Dieuleveult et al, 2017 ). An age-related increase in integration of congruent auditory and visual cues may be beneficial, for example improving driving performance ( Ramkhalawansingh et al, 2016 ). Conversely, integration of incongruent cues achieves a coherent percept at the cost of veridical perception and so greater integration could hinder everyday function in older adults.…”

Aging Impairs Audiovisual Facilitation of Object Motion Within Self-Motion

“…Results in that study showed that the presentation of a brief click sound at the same time as the discs overlapped was less effective at biasing the perception of the discs' motion in older compared to younger participants, suggesting that audiovisual integration in the context of motion may be reduced in older age, at least as assessed by the bounce-stream illusion. In contrast, another study found that the addition of auditory information resulted in a greater benefit for older compared to younger participants in a task where they were required to maintain a constant driving speed in a driving simulator (Ramkhalawansingh et al, 2016). This result suggested aging does not impair the ability to combine auditory and visual information to estimate the speed of self-motion based on optic flow.…”