Coexistence of Multiple Modal Dominances

Research has shown visual dominance effects by participants‟ inclination to focus on visual information when presented with compounded visual and auditory stimuli. A recent study has found auditory dominance through a passive oddball detection task. As this task did not require an explicit response, the first aim of this study was to require a response from the participant. Using a single-response oddball task, Experiment 1 found auditory dominance when examining response times to auditory and visual oddballs, and Experiment 2 confirmed the findings, even when visual stimuli were presented 100 ms prior to auditory. Experiment 3 extended the task to measure error rates, requiring participants to make separate responses for auditory, visual, and bimodal stimuli. Auditory dominance was eliminated with a reversal to visual dominance. The current study provides evidence for the coexistence of multiple sensory dominances. Mechanisms underlying sensory dominance and factors that may modulate sensory dominance are discussed.