Enhanced Audiovisual Processing in People with one Eye: Unaltered by Increased Temporal Load

We investigate whether the loss of one eye leads to enhanced multisensory processing. Previously, we measured speed detection and discrimination of auditory, visual, and audiovisual targets presented as a stream of paired objects and familiar sounds in people with one eye compared to controls viewing binocularly or with one eye patched. All participants were equally able to detect the presence of auditory, visual, or bimodal targets; however, when discriminating between the unimodal and bimodal targets, both control groups demonstrated the Colavita visual dominance effect, preferential processing of visual over auditory information for the bimodal stimuli. People with one eye, however, showed no Colavita effect but rather equal preference for processing visual and auditory stimuli. In the current experiment we increased the temporal processing load in an attempt to favour auditory processing and thereby reverse Colavita visual dominance with a one-back stimulus repetition detection and discrimination paradigm. The Colavita effect was reduced in both control groups, but people with one eye continued to show no Colavita effect. People with one eye display equal auditory and visual processing, suggesting better multisensory processing, likely as a form of cross-modal adaptation and compensation for their loss of binocularity