Vision is typically dominant over audition or touch in human adults. One classic example is the Colavita visual dominance effect: The presentation of a tone sometimes goes undetected when it is paired with a flash even though it is well detected when presented alone. We investigated whether the Colavita visual dominance effect is modulated by stimulus uncertainty in the temporal and spatial domains. In a simple discrimination task, participants were asked to press a predesignated key when detecting a flash, another key when detecting a tone, and both keys when detecting both a flash and a tone. Temporal uncertainty was increased by introducing temporal jitter between trials (Experiment 1), and spatial uncertainty was increased by shifting the flash to different locations (Experiment 2). The Colavita visual dominance effect was reduced when temporal uncertainty was increased, while it remained similar when spatial uncertainty was increased. We therefore demonstrate a novel consideration, where increasing temporal uncertainty balances the competition between vision and audition, suggesting that people’s degree of sensory dominance is malleable. Our result therefore highlights the concept that intersensory competition is susceptible to the temporal predictability of the stimulus, which provides critical insights into the design of effective warning systems in the field of ergonomics.

在成人中，视觉通常优于听觉或触觉。一个经典的例子是 Colavita 视觉优势效应：当与闪光灯搭配使用时，有时无法检测到音调的呈现，即使单独呈现时可以很好地检测到。我们调查了 Colavita 视觉优势效应是否受时间和空间域中的刺激不确定性调节。在一项简单的辨别任务中，参与者被要求在检测到闪光时按一个预先指定的键，在检测到音调时按另一个键，在检测到闪光和音调时按两个键。通过在试验之间引入时间抖动（实验 1）增加了时间不确定性，通过将闪光转移到不同位置（实验 2）增加了空间不确定性。当时间不确定性增加时 Colavita 视觉优势效应会降低，而当空间不确定性增加时它保持相似。因此，我们展示了一个新的考虑，其中增加的时间不确定性平衡了视觉和听觉之间的竞争，这表明人们的感官支配程度是可塑的。因此，我们的结果突出了一个概念，即感觉间竞争容易受到刺激的时间可预测性的影响，这为人体工程学领域的有效警告系统的设计提供了重要的见解。表明人们的感官支配程度是可塑的。因此，我们的结果突出了一个概念，即感觉间竞争容易受到刺激的时间可预测性的影响，这为人体工程学领域的有效警告系统的设计提供了重要的见解。表明人们的感官支配程度是可塑的。因此，我们的结果突出了一个概念，即感觉间竞争容易受到刺激的时间可预测性的影响，这为人体工程学领域的有效警告系统的设计提供了重要的见解。