Individual differences in multiple object tracking, attentional cueing, and age account for variability in the capacity of audiovisual integration

There has been a recent increase in individual differences research within the field of audio-visual perception (Spence & Squire, 2003), and furthering the understanding of audiovisual integration capacity with an individual differences approach is an important facet within this line of research. Across four experiments, participants were asked to complete an audiovisual integration capacity task (cf. Van der Burg et al., 2013; Wilbiks & Dyson, 2016; 2018), along with differing combinations of additional perceptual tasks. Experiment 1 employed a multiple object tracking task and a visual working memory task. Experiment 2 compared performance on the capacity task with that of the attention network test. Experiment 3 examined participants’ focus in space through a Navon task and vigilance through time. Having completed this exploratory work, in Experiment 4 we collected data again from the tasks that were found to correlate significantly across the first three experiments and entered them into a regression model to predict capacity. The current research provides a preliminary explanation of the vast individual differences seen in audiovisual integration capacity in previous research, showing that by considering an individual’s multiple object tracking span, focus in space, and attentional factors, we can account for up to 34.3% of the observed variation in capacity. Future research should seek to examine higher-level differences between individuals that may contribute to audiovisual integration capacity, including neurodevelopmental and mental health differences.