Psychophysical Research on Auditory/Visual Space Perception and Navigation

描述（由申请人提供）：我们日常对三维空间的感知以及我们在空间中互动和导航的能力需要整合来自多种感官模式的信息。然而，在视觉和听觉模式提供主要输入的中间距离（2 - 20米）范围内，距离/深度信息的整合尚未得到很好的理解。该项目的长期目标是全面了解听觉和视觉信息如何整合形成距离感知，从而支持正常和感官受损人群的准确定向和导航。本应用程序的目的是测试和完善一个创新的概念框架，该框架代表了正常听力，正常视力人群的整合过程。指导这一框架的核心假设是，距离感知不同于方向感知，它需要物体本身提供的环境之外的额外上下文或背景信息。这种背景表示可以作为编码距离的参考框架。对于多感官距离输入，物体、上下文和背景信息必须跨模式整合。但是，由于所有信息不一定同时可用，因此记忆必须参与整合过程。这项研究的基本原理是，一旦听觉/视觉距离整合的概念框架在正常人群中得到明确和验证，就可以应用新的创新方法来理解和最大限度地减少感官障碍对空间感知和导航的影响。这一假设将通过追求两个具体目标来验证：1)揭示基于环境背景的距离感知的综合听觉和视觉参考框架。2)确定工作记忆在听觉/视觉距离感知中的作用。这些目标将通过在上下文信息、背景信息或工作记忆的贡献被操纵的条件下测试人类的距离判断和导航性能来解决。虚拟和真实刺激操作技术将允许听觉和视觉信息的新配对，将用于评估和完善所提出的框架。该框架的开发和验证将是一个重要的贡献，因为它将更好地理解人类如何能够成功地整合听觉和视觉信息来执行环境中的空间任务。此外，它将为未来的研究提供一个工具，以推进多感官空间感知领域。这项拟议的研究与公共卫生有关，因为它将使人们更好地了解听觉或视觉障碍如何影响多感官空间感知。最终，这些知识可以为帮助或增强退化空间信息的新策略的发展提供信息，以提高视力和/或听力受损人群的定向和导航能力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our normal everyday perception of 3-dimensional space and our abilities to interact and navigate within the space require integration of information from multiple sensory modalities. The integration of distance/depth information in the intermediate range (2 - 20 m), where visual and auditory modalities provide the primary inputs, is not well understood, however. The long-term goal of this project is a complete understanding of how auditory and visual information is integrated to form distance percepts that can support accurate orientation and navigation in both normal and sensory-impaired populations. The objective of this application is to test and refine an innovative conceptual framework that represents the integration processes in a normal-hearing, normal-vision population. The central hypothesis guiding this framework is that distance perception, unlike the perception of direction, requires additional contextual or background information about the environment that is beyond that provided by the object itself. This background representation can act like a frame of reference for coding distance. For multisensory distance input, object, contextual and background information must be integrated across modalities. But since all the information is not necessarily available at the same time, memory must be involved in the integration process. The rationale that underlies the proposed research is that once a conceptual framework for auditory/visual distance integration has been specified and validated for normal populations, new and innovative approaches can be applied to understanding and minimizing the impact of sensory impairments on spatial perception and navigation. This hypothesis will be tested by pursuing two specific aims: 1) Reveal an integrated auditory and visual reference frame for distance perception based on the environmental background. 2) Determine the role of working memory in auditory/visual distance perception. These aims will be addressed by testing human distance judgment and navigation performance under conditions in which the contributions of the contextual information, background information or working memory are manipulated. Virtual and real stimulus manipulation techniques will allow for novel pairing of auditory and visual information that will be used to evaluate and refine the proposed framework. Development and validation of this framework will be a significant contribution because it will provide a better understanding of how humans are able to successfully integrate auditory and visual information to perform spatial tasks in the environment. Moreover, it will provide a vehicle for future studies to advance the field of multisensory space perception. The proposed research is relevant to public health because it will lead to a better understanding of how auditory or visual impairment affects multisensory space perception. Ultimately, this knowledge may inform the development of new strategies for assisting or enhancing degraded spatial information to improve orientation and navigation abilities in visually- and/or hearing-impaired populations.