Audio-Visual, Visuo-Tactile and Audio-Tactile Correspondences in Preschoolers

Abstract

Interest in crossmodal correspondences has recently seen a renaissance thanks to numerous studies in human adults. Yet, still very little is known about crossmodal correspondences in children, particularly in sensory pairings other than audition and vision. In the current study, we investigated whether 4–5-year-old children match auditory pitch to the spatial motion of visual objects (audio-visual condition). In addition, we investigated whether this correspondence extends to touch, i.e., whether children also match auditory pitch to the spatial motion of touch (audio-tactile condition) and the spatial motion of visual objects to touch (visuo-tactile condition). In two experiments, two different groups of children were asked to indicate which of two stimuli fitted best with a centrally located third stimulus (Experiment 1), or to report whether two presented stimuli fitted together well (Experiment 2). We found sensitivity to the congruency of all of the sensory pairings only in Experiment 2, suggesting that only under specific circumstances can these correspondences be observed. Our results suggest that pitch–height correspondences for audio-visual and audio-tactile combinations may still be weak in preschool children, and speculate that this could be due to immature linguistic and auditory cues that are still developing at age five.

Auditory-induced body distortions in children and adults

“…In Experiment 1, one of the assumptions of the illusion was that higher pitches are usually associated with higher spatial positions, and lower pitches are associated with lower spatial positions. This metaphoric correspondence, which has been documented both adults 40,43 and children 41 , appears to facilitate both adult and children to at least subjectively report the finger length-illusion. Interestingly, Experiment 1 also revealed that the 'metaphoric' decreasing pitch is not sufficient to make participants perceive their finger to be shorter, and we took this as suggestion that experience with one's own body growing (and not shrinking) can constrain the perception of the illusion.…”

“…Recent developmental studies have provided evidence that not only preschool children spontaneously match rising and falling sounds to visual objects moving along the same dimension (i.e., vertical, see 41 ), but even 3-month-old infants prefer 'metaphoric' correspondences between audio-visual compounds 42 . Thus, this predicts than even children may be sensitive to the auditory Pinocchio illusion, but to what extent audition may influence their body representation is the main objective of this study.…”

Sounds Are Perceived as Louder When Accompanied by Visual Movement

“…Some previous research has examined cross-modal correspondences between visual motion and pitch. For instance, ascending and descending pitch modulations are linked to preferential looking towards upwards and downwards visual movement in children (Nava et al, 2016) and infants ; but see Lewkowicz and Minar, 2014 who did not observe a difference). However, this probably reflects spatial position rather than movement per se because the same tendency is found for static visual stimuli occupying high and low positions (Ben-Artzi and Marks, 1995).…”

Multisensory-Based Rehabilitation Approach: Translational Insights from Animal Models to Early Intervention

“…Less is known about audio-haptic integration in children, except that developmental course would seem to be similar to audio-visual and visuo-haptic too (Nava et al, 2016). …”