Affiliations: Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia | School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia | Hear and Say Research and Innovation, Hear and Say, Toowong, QLD, Australia
Note: [] Corresponding author: Dr. Marc R. Kamke, The Queensland Brain Institute, Building 79, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, 4072 QLD, Australia. Tel.: +61 7 3346 6300; Fax: +61 7 3346 6301; E-mail: m.kamke@uq.edu.au
Note: [] Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Abstract: Purpose: Evidence suggests that deafness-induced changes in visual perception, cognition and attention may compensate for a hearing loss. Such alterations, however, may also negatively influence adaptation to a cochlear implant. This study investigated whether involuntary attentional capture by salient visual stimuli is altered in children who use a cochlear implant. Methods: Thirteen experienced implant users (aged 8–16 years) and age-matched normally hearing children were presented with a rapid sequence of simultaneous visual and auditory events. Participants were tasked with detecting numbers presented in a specified color and identifying a change in the tonal frequency whilst ignoring irrelevant visual distractors. Results: Compared to visual distractors that did not possess the target-defining characteristic, target-colored distractors were associated with a decrement in visual performance (response time and accuracy), demonstrating a contingent capture of involuntary attention. Visual distractors did not, however, impair auditory task performance. Importantly, detection performance for the visual and auditory targets did not differ between the groups. Conclusion: These results suggest that proficient cochlear implant users demonstrate normal capture of visuospatial attention by stimuli that match top-down control settings.
Keywords: Cochlear implant, selective attention, spatial attention, contingent capture, children
