Successful navigation of information-rich, multimodal environments involves processing both auditory and visual information. The extent to which information within each modality is processed varies because of many factors, but the influence of auditory stimuli on the processing of visual stimuli in these multimodal environments is not well understood. Previous research has shown that a preceding sound leads to decreased reaction times in visual tasks (Bertelson, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 19(3), 272–279, 1967). The current study examines whether a nonspatial, task-irrelevant sound additionally alters processing of visual distractors that flank a central target. We used a version of a flanker task in which participants responded to a central letter surrounded by two irrelevant flanker letters. When these flankers are associated with a conflicting response, a congruency effect occurs such that reaction time to the target is slowed (Eriksen & Eriksen, Perception & Psychophysics, 16(1), 143–149, 1974). In two experiments using this task, results showed that a preceding tone caused general speeding of reaction time across flanker types, consistent with alerting. The tone also caused decreased variation in response time. Critically, the tone modulated the congruency effect, with a greater speeding for congruent flankers than for incongruent flankers. This suggests that the influence of flanker identity was more intense after tone presentation, consistent with a nonspatial sound increasing perceptual and/or response-association processing of flanking stimuli.

信息丰富的多模式环境的成功导航涉及处理听觉和视觉信息。由于许多因素，每种模态中信息的处理程度各不相同，但在这些多模态环境中听觉刺激对视觉刺激处理的影响尚不清楚。以前的研究表明，前面的声音会导致视觉任务的反应时间减少（Bertelson，Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology19(3), 272–279, 1967)。目前的研究检查了一个非空间的、与任务无关的声音是否会另外改变中心目标两侧的视觉干扰物的处理。我们使用了一个侧卫任务的版本，参与者对一个被两个不相关的侧卫字母包围的中心字母做出回应。当这些侧翼与相互冲突的反应相关联时，就会出现一致性效应，从而减慢对目标的反应时间（Eriksen & Eriksen, Perception & Psychophysics,16(1), 143–149, 1974)。在使用此任务的两个实验中，结果表明，前一个音调会导致跨侧卫类型的反应时间普遍加快，这与警报一致。音调还导致响应时间的变化减少。至关重要的是，音调调节了一致性效果，一致性侧翼的速度比不一致的侧翼更快。这表明侧翼身份的影响在音调呈现后更加强烈，与非空间声音增加侧翼刺激的感知和/或响应关联处理一致。