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Four-month-old infants can perceive bimodally specified events. They respond to relationships between the optic and acoustic stimulation that carries information about an object. Infants can do this by detecting the temporal synchrony of an objects sounds and its optically specified impacts. They are sensitive both to the common tempo and to the simultaneity of such sounds and visible impacts. These findings support the view that intermodal perception depends at least in part on the detection of invariant relationships in patterns of light and sound. Humans live in a world of objects and events that can be seen, heard, and felt. When mature perceivers look and listen to an event simultaneously, they experience a unitary episode. When they look at one event while listening to another, they are aware of two separate happenings. These experiences are possible because adults can determine if simultaneous patterns of light and sound are produced by a single object. Adults can perceive bimodally specified events. What are the origins of this capacity? Many philosophers and psychologists have suggested that it arises from experience. Perceivers come to relate visual and auditory sensations through direct association (Berkeley, 1709/1910; Birch Lefford, 1967; Mill, 1829), verbal mediation (Blank Bridger, 1964), or the integration of schemes for look-Portions of this research are based on a thesis submitted
Elizabeth S. Spelke (Thu,) studied this question.
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