Non-spatial skills differ in the front and rear peri-personal space. (October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Aggius-Vella, Elena; Gori, Monica; Animali, Silvia; Campus, Claudio; Binda, Paola
• Is Part Of: Neuropsychologia. Volume 147(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-10
• Subjects: Peri-personal space -- oddball -- Pupil -- Multisensory calibration; Neuropsychology -- Periodicals; Neurology -- Periodicals; Psychophysiology -- Periodicals; Neuropsychologie -- Périodiques; Neuropsychology; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 616.8
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107619
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0028-3932

Abstract

Abstract: In measuring behavioural and pupillary responses to auditory oddball stimuli delivered in the front and rear peri-personal space, we find that pupils dilate in response to rare stimuli, both target and distracters. Dilation in response to targets is stronger than the response to distracters, implying a task relevance effect on pupil responses. Crucially, pupil dilation in response to targets is also selectively modulated by the location of sound sources: stronger in the front than in the rear peri-personal space, in spite of matching behavioural performance. This supports the concept that even non-spatial skills, such as the ability to alert in response to behaviourally relevant events, are differentially engaged across subregions of the peri-personal space. Highlights: Peri-personal space is split into 2 regions: the front presents superior alertness for relevant stimuli than the rear one. This suggests a role of vision and haptics (absent from the rear space) for training non-spatial cognitive skills. Pupil responses can be used as a marker of stimulus processing. Pupil responses may be more sensitive than behavioural measures.