Sensory processing sensitivity shapes the temporal dynamics of auditory bistability

Sensory processing sensitivity shapes the temporal dynamics of auditory bistability | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Sensory processing sensitivity shapes the temporal dynamics of auditory bistability Hirohito Kondo, Daniel Pressnitzer This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8299661/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Perceptual experience is shaped not only by external input but also by stable individual traits. Here, we investigated how sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), a personality trait reflecting responsiveness to external input, modulates the temporal dynamics of bistable auditory streaming. Forty-eight participants listened to repeating triplet-tone sequences and reported their percepts as they switched between an integrated one-stream and a segregated two-stream state. Higher SPS was reliably associated with longer percept durations and fewer switches overall. To probe the underlying mechanisms, we used an interpretable modeling approach. First, we treated each switch as a perceptual decision and modeled it with a hierarchical drift-diffusion framework. This revealed an asymmetric effect: higher SPS was associated with faster drift and shorter non-decision times when switching from integration to segregation. Second, discrete-time hazard analyses showed that, right after a percept became dominant, higher SPS reduced the probability of its termination. Together, the modeling results show that higher SPS stabilizes the temporal dynamics of auditory organization through a combination of enhanced sensitivity to segregation cues combined with a slower “internal clock” for evidence accumulation. These findings illustrate how the microdynamics of perceptual bistability can reveal the specific impact of individual traits on perception. Biological sciences/Psychology Biological sciences/Psychology/Human behaviour auditory streaming bistable perception sensory processing sensitivity highly sensitive person drift-diffusion model Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8299661","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":565548758,"identity":"d61e3a76-2afb-48e9-a0e1-5712d9b32f59","order_by":0,"name":"Hirohito Kondo","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABBUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACCTCusABzmBkYEuAyzPi1nJFg4CFNC2MbFi04gWR778EbH+dJyNnzH2D8XNiWltjPwGPA8KOGgd0chxZpnnPJljO3SRjzSCQwS89sy0mc2cBjwNhzjIHZsgG7FjmJHDNp3m0SiT0SDGzMvG0ViRvuvzFg4G1gYDY4gE/LHIn6Hv4DUC0HgLb8xaNFGqylQSKBhyEBpCUHrIUZny2SPWeMLWcckzDsuZHYDPRYmvHMBraCwzLHJHD6ReJ4j+GNDzU28uz9hw9+5ilLlu1nYN748E2NTTKuEEMCjGBTHUEk0EkSyQaEtUCAPYxhR7SWUTAKRsEoGO4AAJtsS+SaFu4dAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7444-4996","institution":"Chukyo University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hirohito","middleName":"","lastName":"Kondo","suffix":""},{"id":565548759,"identity":"0b5a4829-9fc7-42b7-a0b2-9207981b6dee","order_by":1,"name":"Daniel Pressnitzer","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4744-5165","institution":"CNRS \u0026 École normale supérieure","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Daniel","middleName":"","lastName":"Pressnitzer","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-12-07 12:15:09","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8299661/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8299661/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":99315406,"identity":"9766d9a9-4c26-4f51-a92a-7da7cbfc1e82","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-31 16:26:53","extension":"docx","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":816729,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SPSstreamingMS20251209.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1/e6f4810b58cb2a66ca659519.docx"},{"id":99315201,"identity":"9591ed07-b68c-4db3-92a8-ffe10d686509","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-31 16:26:36","extension":"json","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":4082,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"COMMSPSYCHOL250938T.json","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1/3ea71c47a4926aa38c2b7789.json"},{"id":99142649,"identity":"a52e8e27-5ea2-4264-b759-aee0f940873c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-29 08:22:21","extension":"xml","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":174749,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"COMMSPSYCHOL250938T0enriched.xml","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1/acfe5b9452d046baf1f7065e.xml"},{"id":99142646,"identity":"24d1396d-4c39-451b-892a-1cc85b2c1433","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-29 08:22:21","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":1045,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1/723d6d986a1f1ec3b5cb8b35.png"},{"id":99316039,"identity":"9301c371-9143-491f-8b15-48f4c08f234a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-31 16:27:37","extension":"jpeg","order_by":4,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":255214,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage2.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1/5b14bec76fe0031417fd592e.jpeg"},{"id":99315523,"identity":"cdb9e634-fe7e-4903-804b-1b3102b1f468","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-31 16:27:02","extension":"jpeg","order_by":5,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":341454,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage3.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1/273ca82e831c132db29d80ef.jpeg"},{"id":99315615,"identity":"55695a09-4279-4ec5-871f-b31aacaff901","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-31 16:27:07","extension":"jpeg","order_by":6,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":447805,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage4.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1/58c887d71f896e2dd3c66cab.jpeg"},{"id":99142648,"identity":"5171a332-85c1-49c9-84e4-4111466b964a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-29 08:22:21","extension":"jpeg","order_by":7,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":227715,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage5.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1/0774703c70f2a44a3275248a.jpeg"},{"id":99315840,"identity":"31b602c5-e409-43ec-90d5-b53e3871c947","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-31 16:27:23","extension":"png","order_by":8,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":77081,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage6.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1/027bad583acaf8ee65c23597.png"},{"id":99142658,"identity":"724118c0-404a-4f1c-90bf-c6c0334cc03e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-29 08:22:21","extension":"jpeg","order_by":9,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":291986,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage7.jpeg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1/23dc016952bed2414c22b52f.jpeg"},{"id":99142653,"identity":"ae3058be-3890-4c12-b97f-bab327aacd9b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-29 08:22:21","extension":"png","order_by":10,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":878,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1/1b01aac9dcff87be22fb1503.png"},{"id":99142652,"identity":"35addd15-ffcf-4b24-ba9f-6804cb8adbfa","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-29 08:22:21","extension":"png","order_by":11,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":72448,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1/ec9fac68aa76fdbfb49f540a.png"},{"id":99317166,"identity":"afd3a066-c894-4f0c-9b59-22a54a03fd9f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-31 16:29:43","extension":"png","order_by":12,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":73996,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1/7b04515d0cdbdbb92e22da67.png"},{"id":99142660,"identity":"20bec60a-5f6b-43a1-aa34-22b8efcf20ec","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-29 08:22:21","extension":"png","order_by":13,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":91087,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1/0a2911ddb2c121957d0df163.png"},{"id":99315198,"identity":"bcf93c9f-28d4-4113-84fa-030c0789e0a6","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-31 16:26:35","extension":"png","order_by":14,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":39891,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage5.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1/cc69a3d7b35f6ea19d9e5842.png"},{"id":99315192,"identity":"1733e5ff-28d5-4b3c-817b-6e25223f5e4b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-31 16:26:35","extension":"png","order_by":15,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":14650,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage6.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1/e3c79db85a0a3a2e2bb5a274.png"},{"id":99317438,"identity":"76bc1edd-ee80-4654-9766-537ec25a7d73","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-31 16:30:13","extension":"png","order_by":16,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":55878,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage7.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1/db914236590f0b2c32e408f0.png"},{"id":99142664,"identity":"d3077651-7e9f-4f59-aac3-cdd316ba4750","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-29 08:22:21","extension":"xml","order_by":17,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":172352,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"COMMSPSYCHOL250938T0structuring.xml","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1/0b2181b3ef13db32c07e3996.xml"},{"id":99142662,"identity":"49abcf02-a32b-4df4-989f-0eb7d78fab57","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-12-29 08:22:21","extension":"html","order_by":18,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":190878,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"earlyproof.html","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1/ca27e16974eeee91813fb3b2.html"},{"id":99788073,"identity":"5bcf3b00-f7f1-4c63-9259-2b2076e7cfa5","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-08 12:44:19","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":951099,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SPSstreamingMS20251209.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8299661/v1_covered_835dfe65-90ac-4907-9440-03ed6f257d71.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Sensory processing sensitivity shapes the temporal dynamics of auditory bistability","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"auditory streaming, bistable perception, sensory processing sensitivity, highly sensitive person, drift-diffusion model","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8299661/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8299661/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003ePerceptual experience is shaped not only by external input but also by stable individual traits. Here, we investigated how sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), a personality trait reflecting responsiveness to external input, modulates the temporal dynamics of bistable auditory streaming. Forty-eight participants listened to repeating triplet-tone sequences and reported their percepts as they switched between an integrated one-stream and a segregated two-stream state. Higher SPS was reliably associated with longer percept durations and fewer switches overall. To probe the underlying mechanisms, we used an interpretable modeling approach. First, we treated each switch as a perceptual decision and modeled it with a hierarchical drift-diffusion framework. This revealed an asymmetric effect: higher SPS was associated with faster drift and shorter non-decision times when switching from integration to segregation. Second, discrete-time hazard analyses showed that, right after a percept became dominant, higher SPS reduced the probability of its termination. Together, the modeling results show that higher SPS stabilizes the temporal dynamics of auditory organization through a combination of enhanced sensitivity to segregation cues combined with a slower \u0026ldquo;internal clock\u0026rdquo; for evidence accumulation. These findings illustrate how the microdynamics of perceptual bistability can reveal the specific impact of individual traits on perception.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Sensory processing sensitivity shapes the temporal dynamics of auditory bistability","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-12-29 08:22:15","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8299661/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"communications-psychology","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"commspsychol","sideBox":"Learn more about [Communications Psychology](http://www.nature.com/commspsychol/)","snPcode":"44271","submissionUrl":"https://mts-commspsychol.nature.com/cgi-bin/main.plex","title":"Communications Psychology","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Communications Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"1f2ce505-e3c2-4a52-b755-82c79e8fd94b","owner":[],"postedDate":"December 29th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":60213826,"name":"Biological sciences/Psychology"},{"id":60213827,"name":"Biological sciences/Psychology/Human behaviour"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-12T15:44:45+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-12-29 08:22:15","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8299661","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8299661","identity":"rs-8299661","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}