The interplay between audiovisual temporal synchrony and semantic congruency in the cross-modal boost of the visual target discrimination during the attentional blink.

The visual attentional blink can be substantially reduced by delivering a task-irrelevant sound synchronously with the second visual target (T2), and this effect is further modulated by the semantic congruency between the sound and T2. However, whether the cross-modal benefit originates from audiovisual interactions or sound-induced alertness remains controversial, and whether the semantic congruency effect is contingent on audiovisual temporal synchrony needs further investigation. The current study investigated these questions by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) in a visual attentional blink task wherein a sound could either synchronize with T2, precede T2 by 200 ms, be delayed by 100 ms, or be absent, and could be either semantically congruent or incongruent with T2 when delivered. The behavioral data showed that both the cross-modal boost of T2 discrimination and the further semantic modulation were the largest when the sound synchronized with T2. In parallel, the ERP data yielded that both the early occipital cross-modal P195 component (192-228 ms after T2 onset) and late parietal cross-modal N440 component (424-448 ms) were prominent only when the sound synchronized with T2, with the former being elicited solely when the sound was further semantically congruent whereas the latter occurring only when that sound was incongruent. These findings demonstrate not only that the cross-modal boost of T2 discrimination during the attentional blink stems from early audiovisual interactions and the semantic congruency effect depends on audiovisual temporal synchrony, but also that the semantic modulation can unfold at the early stage of visual discrimination processing.

Neural Basis of Semantically Dependent and Independent Cross-Modal Boosts on the Attentional Blink.

The present study recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) in a visual object-recognition task under the attentional blink paradigm to explore the temporal dynamics of the cross-modal boost on attentional blink and whether this auditory benefit would be modulated by semantic congruency between T2 and the simultaneous sound. Behaviorally, the present study showed that not only a semantically congruent but also a semantically incongruent sound improved T2 discrimination during the attentional blink interval, whereas the enhancement was larger for the congruent sound. The ERP results revealed that the behavioral improvements induced by both the semantically congruent and incongruent sounds were closely associated with an early cross-modal interaction on the occipital N195 (192-228 ms). In contrast, the lower T2 accuracy for the incongruent than congruent condition was accompanied by a larger late occurring cento-parietal N440 (424-448 ms). These findings suggest that the cross-modal boost on attentional blink is hierarchical: the task-irrelevant but simultaneous sound, irrespective of its semantic relevance, firstly enables T2 to escape the attentional blink via cross-modally strengthening the early stage of visual object-recognition processing, whereas the semantic conflict of the sound begins to interfere with visual awareness only at a later stage when the representation of visual object is extracted.

Intraoperative navigation system with a multi-modality fusion of 3D virtual model and laparoscopic real-time images in laparoscopic pancreatic surgery: a preclinical study.

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopy is widely used in pancreatic surgeries nowadays. The efficient and correct judgment of the location of the anatomical structures is crucial for a safe laparoscopic pancreatic surgery. The technologies of 3-dimensional(3D) virtual model and image fusion are widely used for preoperative planning and intraoperative navigation in the medical field, but not in laparoscopic pancreatic surgery up to now. We aimed to develop an intraoperative navigation system with an accurate multi-modality fusion of 3D virtual model and laparoscopic real-time images for laparoscopic pancreatic surgery. METHODS: The software for the navigation system was developed ad hoc. The preclinical study included tests with the laparoscopic simulator and pilot cases. The 3D virtual models were built using preoperative Computed Tomography (CT) Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) data. Manual and automatic real-time image fusions were tested. The practicality of the navigation system was evaluated by the operators using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration-Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) method. RESULTS: The 3D virtual models were successfully built using the navigation system. The 3D model was correctly fused with the real-time laparoscopic images both manually and automatically optical orientation in the preclinical tests. The statistical comparative tests showed no statistically significant differences between the scores of the rigid model and those of the phantom model(P > 0.05). There was statistically significant difference between the total scores of automatic fusion function and those of manual fusion function (P = 0.026). In pilot cases, the 3D model was correctly fused with the real-time laparoscopic images manually. The Intraoperative navigation system was easy to use. The automatic fusion function brought more convenience to the user. CONCLUSIONS: The intraoperative navigation system applied in laparoscopic pancreatic surgery clearly and correctly showed the covered anatomical structures. It has the potentiality of helping achieve a more safe and efficient laparoscopic pancreatic surgery.

Updating the dual-mechanism model for cross-sensory attentional spreading: The influence of space-based visual selective attention.

Selective attention to visual stimuli can spread cross-modally to task-irrelevant auditory stimuli through either the stimulus-driven binding mechanism or the representation-driven priming mechanism. The stimulus-driven attentional spreading occurs whenever a task-irrelevant sound is delivered simultaneously with a spatially attended visual stimulus, whereas the representation-driven attentional spreading occurs only when the object representation of the sound is congruent with that of the to-be-attended visual object. The current study recorded event-related potentials in a space-selective visual object-recognition task to examine the exact roles of space-based visual selective attention in both the stimulus-driven and representation-driven cross-modal attentional spreading, which remain controversial in the literature. Our results yielded that the representation-driven auditory Nd component (200-400 ms after sound onset) did not differ according to whether the peripheral visual representations of audiovisual target objects were spatially attended or not, but was decreased when the auditory representations of target objects were presented alone. In contrast, the stimulus-driven auditory Nd component (200-300 ms) was decreased but still prominent when the peripheral visual constituents of audiovisual nontarget objects were spatially unattended. These findings demonstrate not only that the representation-driven attentional spreading is independent of space-based visual selective attention and benefits in an all-or-nothing manner from object-based visual selection for actually presented visual representations of target objects, but also that although the stimulus-driven attentional spreading is modulated by space-based visual selective attention, attending to visual modality per se is more likely to be the endogenous determinant of the stimulus-driven attentional spreading.

Temporal dynamics of the flash-induced bouncing effect.

Two identical visual disks moving toward each other on a two-dimensional (2D) display are more likely to be perceived as "streaming through" than "bouncing off" each other after their coincidence. However, either a brief auditory tone or visual flash presented at the coincident moment of the disks can strikingly increase the incidence of the bouncing percept. Despite the neural substrates underlying the sound-induced bouncing effect have been widely investigated, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying the flash-induced bouncing effect. The present study used event-related potential recordings to explore the temporal dynamics of the flash-induced bouncing effect. The results showed that the amplitude of the postcoincidence parietooccipital P2 component (190-230 ms after coincidence) elicited by the visual motion was significantly smaller on bouncing relative to streaming trials only when the flash was presented but not when absent. In addition, the parietal P3 component (330-430 ms) was found to be larger on bouncing than streaming trials when the flash was presented, but the opposite was true when no flash was presented. These electrophysiological findings suggest that the flash-induced bouncing effect may occur at both perceptual and postperceptual stages of processing.

Flow evaluation of STA-MCA bypass using quantitative ultrasonography: An alternative to standard angiography for follow up of bypass graft.

PURPOSE: To date, digital subtraction angiography (DSA) has been considered as the gold imaging modality for assessing graft patency after extracranial-intracranial bypass. The utility of a noninvasive and quantitative method of assessing graft flow postoperatively was evaluated by using quantitative ultrasonography. METHOD: All STA-MCA bypass surgery performed over a 5-year period at a single institution were reviewed. Measured by duplex ultrasonography, pre-operative (day1) and post-operative (day1, day7, 3month and 6 month) graft blood flow rates were recorded and analyzed. Results were correlated to Matsushima grade determined by DSA performed within 24 h when ultrasonography was conducted to confirm the graft function. RESULTS: 100 patients with 131 operated hemispheres were included in this study. The mean flow rates in the STA graft on pre-operative day1, post-operative day 1 and 7, at 3- and 6-month postoperatively were 24.1, 106.7, 112.6, 97.4 and 79.7 ml/min respectively. The mean post-operative flow in the STA graft graded as A/B/C were significantly different (168.0 ± 34.8 ml/min, 91.0 ± 15.5, 42.1 ± 17.2 ml/min, respectively, p = 0.000). 124.5 ml/min and 65.5 ml/min are good cut-off value for predicting post-operative graft Matsushima grade. The analysis also showed excellent agreement between ultrasonography and DSA for assessing bypass function (κ = 0.78). CONCLUSIONS: The patency of the STA grafts can be assessed noninvasively by quantitative ultrasonography, which results are comparable to those of conventional DSA. This, therefore, suggest that quantitative ultrasonography may be an alternative method to standard DSA for serial follow up of STA grafts.

Early cross-modal interactions underlie the audiovisual bounce-inducing effect.

Two identical visual disks moving towards one another on a two-dimensional display can be perceived as either "streaming through" or "bouncing off" each other after their coincidence/overlapping. A brief sound presented at the moment of the coincidence of the disks could strikingly bias the percept towards bouncing, which was termed the audiovisual bounce-inducing effect (ABE). Although the ABE has been studied intensively since its discovery, the debate about its origin is still unresolved so far. The present study used event-related potential (ERP) recordings to investigate whether or not early neural activities associated with cross-modal interactions play a role on the ABE. The results showed that the fronto-central P2 component ∼200 ms before the coincidence of the disks was predictive of subsequent streaming or bouncing percept in the unimodal visual display but not in auditory-visual display. More importantly, the cross-modal interactions revealed by the fronto-central positivity PD170 (125-175 ms after sound onset), as well as the occipital positivity PD190 (180-200 ms), were substantially enhanced on bouncing trials compared to streaming trials in the auditory-visual display. These findings provide direct electrophysiological evidence that early cross-modal interactions contribute to the origin of ABE phenomenon at the perceptual stage of processing.

Unifying relationships between complexity and stability in mutualistic ecological communities.

Conserving ecosystem function and associated services requires deep understanding of the underlying basis of system stability. While the study of ecological dynamics is a mature and diverse field, the lack of a general model that predicts a broad range of theoretical and empirical observations has allowed unresolved contradictions to persist. Here we provide a general model of mutualistic ecological interactions between two groups and show for the first time how the conditions for bi-stability, the nature of critical transitions, and identifiable leading indicators in time-series can be derived from the basic parameters describing the underlying ecological interactions. Strong mutualism and nonlinearity in handling-time are found to be necessary conditions for the occurrence of critical transitions. We use the model to resolve open questions concerning the effects of heterogeneity in inter-species interactions on both resilience and abundance, and discuss these in terms of potential trade-offs in real systems. This framework provides a basis for rich investigations of ecological system dynamics, and may be generalizable across many ecological contexts.

Involuntary orienting of attention to a sound desynchronizes the occipital alpha rhythm and improves visual perception.

Directing attention voluntarily to the location of a visual target results in an amplitude reduction (desynchronization) of the occipital alpha rhythm (8-14Hz), which is predictive of improved perceptual processing of the target. Here we investigated whether modulations of the occipital alpha rhythm triggered by the involuntary orienting of attention to a salient but spatially non-predictive sound would similarly influence perception of a subsequent visual target. Target discrimination was more accurate when a sound preceded the target at the same location (validly cued trials) than when the sound was on the side opposite to the target (invalidly cued trials). This behavioral effect was accompanied by a sound-induced desynchronization of the alpha rhythm over the lateral occipital scalp. The magnitude of alpha desynchronization over the hemisphere contralateral to the sound predicted correct discriminations of validly cued targets but not of invalidly cued targets. These results support the conclusion that cue-induced alpha desynchronization over the occipital cortex is a manifestation of a general priming mechanism that improves visual processing and that this mechanism can be activated either by the voluntary or involuntary orienting of attention. Further, the observed pattern of alpha modulations preceding correct and incorrect discriminations of valid and invalid targets suggests that involuntary orienting to the non-predictive sound has a rapid and purely facilitatory influence on processing targets on the cued side, with no inhibitory influence on targets on the opposite side.

Salient, Irrelevant Sounds Reflexively Induce Alpha Rhythm Desynchronization in Parallel with Slow Potential Shifts in Visual Cortex.

Recent findings suggest that a salient, irrelevant sound attracts attention to its location involuntarily and facilitates processing of a colocalized visual event [McDonald, J. J., Störmer, V. S., Martinez, A., Feng, W. F., & Hillyard, S. A. Salient sounds activate human visual cortex automatically. Journal of Neuroscience, 33, 9194-9201, 2013]. Associated with this cross-modal facilitation is a sound-evoked slow potential over the contralateral visual cortex termed the auditory-evoked contralateral occipital positivity (ACOP). Here, we further tested the hypothesis that a salient sound captures visual attention involuntarily by examining sound-evoked modulations of the occipital alpha rhythm, which has been strongly associated with visual attention. In two purely auditory experiments, lateralized irrelevant sounds triggered a bilateral desynchronization of occipital alpha-band activity (10-14 Hz) that was more pronounced in the hemisphere contralateral to the sound's location. The timing of the contralateral alpha-band desynchronization overlapped with that of the ACOP (∼240-400 msec), and both measures of neural activity were estimated to arise from neural generators in the ventral-occipital cortex. The magnitude of the lateralized alpha desynchronization was correlated with ACOP amplitude on a trial-by-trial basis and between participants, suggesting that they arise from or are dependent on a common neural mechanism. These results support the hypothesis that the sound-induced alpha desynchronization and ACOP both reflect the involuntary cross-modal orienting of spatial attention to the sound's location.

Sounds activate visual cortex and improve visual discrimination.

A recent study in humans (McDonald et al., 2013) found that peripheral, task-irrelevant sounds activated contralateral visual cortex automatically as revealed by an auditory-evoked contralateral occipital positivity (ACOP) recorded from the scalp. The present study investigated the functional significance of this cross-modal activation of visual cortex, in particular whether the sound-evoked ACOP is predictive of improved perceptual processing of a subsequent visual target. A trial-by-trial analysis showed that the ACOP amplitude was markedly larger preceding correct than incorrect pattern discriminations of visual targets that were colocalized with the preceding sound. Dipole modeling of the scalp topography of the ACOP localized its neural generators to the ventrolateral extrastriate visual cortex. These results provide direct evidence that the cross-modal activation of contralateral visual cortex by a spatially nonpredictive but salient sound facilitates the discriminative processing of a subsequent visual target event at the location of the sound. Recordings of event-related potentials to the targets support the hypothesis that the ACOP is a neural consequence of the automatic orienting of visual attention to the location of the sound.

Salient sounds activate human visual cortex automatically.

Sudden changes in the acoustic environment enhance perceptual processing of subsequent visual stimuli that appear in close spatial proximity. Little is known, however, about the neural mechanisms by which salient sounds affect visual processing. In particular, it is unclear whether such sounds automatically activate visual cortex. To shed light on this issue, this study examined event-related brain potentials (ERPs) that were triggered either by peripheral sounds that preceded task-relevant visual targets (Experiment 1) or were presented during purely auditory tasks (Experiments 2-4). In all experiments the sounds elicited a contralateral ERP over the occipital scalp that was localized to neural generators in extrastriate visual cortex of the ventral occipital lobe. The amplitude of this cross-modal ERP was predictive of perceptual judgments about the contrast of colocalized visual targets. These findings demonstrate that sudden, intrusive sounds reflexively activate human visual cortex in a spatially specific manner, even during purely auditory tasks when the sounds are not relevant to the ongoing task.

Revealing spatio-spectral electroencephalographic dynamics of musical mode and tempo perception by independent component analysis.

BACKGROUND: Music conveys emotion by manipulating musical structures, particularly musical mode- and tempo-impact. The neural correlates of musical mode and tempo perception revealed by electroencephalography (EEG) have not been adequately addressed in the literature. METHOD: This study used independent component analysis (ICA) to systematically assess spatio-spectral EEG dynamics associated with the changes of musical mode and tempo. RESULTS: Empirical results showed that music with major mode augmented delta-band activity over the right sensorimotor cortex, suppressed theta activity over the superior parietal cortex, and moderately suppressed beta activity over the medial frontal cortex, compared to minor-mode music, whereas fast-tempo music engaged significant alpha suppression over the right sensorimotor cortex. CONCLUSION: The resultant EEG brain sources were comparable with previous studies obtained by other neuroimaging modalities, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET). In conjunction with advanced dry and mobile EEG technology, the EEG results might facilitate the translation from laboratory-oriented research to real-life applications for music therapy, training and entertainment in naturalistic environments.

Sound reduces saccadic chronostasis illusion.

The saccadic chronostasis illusion refers to the duration overestimation of the first visual stimulation after saccadic eye movement, which is also known as "stopped clock illusion." The present study investigated whether saccadic chronostasis would be observed in the auditory modality and whether the saccade-induced time dilation in the visual modality would be reduced by a synchronously presented sound. In each trial, a unisensory visual stimulus, unisensory sound, or bimodal audio-visual stimulus with a duration of 200-800 ms (probe stimulus) was presented at the saccade target location and temporally around the offset of the saccade, followed by a unisensory visual or auditory standard stimulus for a fixed 500 ms. Participants were required to identify which of the two stimuli (probe or standard) presented in the target modality (visual or auditory) was perceived as longer. The results showed that no saccadic chronostasis was observed in the auditory modality, regardless of whether the sound was presented alone or synchronously accompanied by a visual stimulus. Interestingly, the magnitude of the saccadic chronostasis illusion was reduced by the synchronously presented sound. Moreover, the combined effect of the saccade and sound on visual time perception fits well with the standard scalar model, and the weight of the cross-modal effect was higher than that of saccadic visual time dilation. These results suggest that sound dominates vision in time processing during saccades and linearly modulates saccadic chronostasis, which follows the Scalar Expectancy Theory.

The stimulus-driven and representation-driven cross-modal attentional spreading are both modulated by audiovisual temporal synchrony.

Multisensory integration and attention can interact in a way that attention to the visual constituent of a multisensory object results in an attentional spreading to its ignored auditory constituent, which can be either stimulus-driven or representation-driven depending on whether the object's visual constituent receives extra representation-based selective attention. Previous research using simple unrelated audiovisual combinations has shown that the stimulus-driven attentional spreading is contingent on audiovisual temporal simultaneity. However, little is known about whether this temporal constraint applies also to the representation-driven attentional spreading, and whether it holds for the stimulus-driven process elicited by real-life multisensory objects. The current event-related potential study investigated these questions by systematically manipulating the visual-to-auditory stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA: 0/100/300 ms) in an object-selective visual recognition task wherein the representation-driven and stimulus-driven spreading processes, measured as two distinct auditory negative difference (Nd) components, could be isolated independently. Our results showed that both the representation-driven and stimulus-driven Nds decreased as the SOA increased. Interestingly, the representation-driven Nd was completely absent, whereas the stimulus-driven Nd was still robust, when the auditory constituents were delayed by 300 ms. These findings not only indicate that the role of audiovisual simultaneity in the representation-driven attentional spreading has been underestimated, but also suggest that learned associations between the unisensory constituents of real-life objects render the stimulus-driven attentional spreading more tolerant of audiovisual asynchrony.

Temporal dynamics of spatial attentional biases toward weight-related words among females with weight dissatisfaction.

Attentional bias toward weight-related stimuli plays a crucial role in the development and maintenance of body image disturbances. However, the temporal dynamics of attentional biases responsible for the previously reported behavioral effects caused by the task-irrelevant but spatial-relevant weight-related stimuli presented in the peripheral visual field among females with high weight dissatisfaction (HWD) remain unclear. The present study combined the modified dot-probe task and event-related potentials to explore the temporal dynamics of spatial attentional biases toward weight-related words among females with HWD. The results showed significantly larger N2pc amplitudes were elicited by fat-related and thin-related words than neutral words only in the HWD group. Moreover, only fat-related words elicited a significant PD for the HWD group, and the PD amplitudes were larger in the HWD group than in the control group. These findings revealed that weight-related words initially captured spatial allocation among females with HWD, and then fat-related words were actively suppressed after the initial capturing.

Pipeline Embolization Device for intracranial aneurysms presenting with mass effect: a large Chinese cohort.

BACKGROUND: Unruptured intracranial aneurysm treatment aims to reduce the risk of aneurysm rupture and bleeding, relieves symptoms and improve the quality of life for patients. This study aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of Pipeline Embolization Device (PED, Covidien/Medtronic, Irvine, CA) treatment for intracranial aneurysms presenting with mass effect in real-world settings. METHODS: We selected patients from the PED in China Post-Market Multi-Center Registry Study with mass effect presentation. The study endpoints included postoperative mass effect deterioration and mass effect relief at follow-up (3-36 months). We conducted multivariate analysis to identify factors associated with mass effect relief. Subgroup analyses by aneurysm location, size and form were also performed. RESULTS: This study included 218 patients with a mean age of 54.3±11.8 years and a female predominance of 74.0% (162/218). The postoperative mass effect deterioration rate was 9.6% (21/218). During a median follow-up period of 8.4 months, the mass effect relief rate was 71.6% (156/218). Notably, immediate aneurysm occlusion following treatment was significantly associated with mass effect relief (OR 0.392, 95% CI, 0.170 to 0.907, p=0.029). Subgroup analysis demonstrated that adjunctive coiling contributed to mass effect relief in cavernous aneurysms, while dense embolism impeded symptom relief in aneurysms<10 mm and saccular aneurysms. CONCLUSIONS: Our data confirmed the efficacy of PED in relieving mass effect. The findings of this study provide support for endovascular treatment to alleviate mass effect in unruptured intracranial aneurysms. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03831672.

MxA inhibits hepatitis B virus replication by interaction with hepatitis B core antigen.

UNLABELLED: Human MxA, an interferon-inducible cytoplasmic dynamin-like GTPase, possesses antiviral activity against multiple RNA viruses. Recently, MxA has also been demonstrated to have activity against the hepatitis B virus (HBV), a well-known DNA virus responsible for acute and chronic liver disease in humans. We investigated the molecular mechanism for the anti-HBV activity of MxA. Our results demonstrated that in HepG2.2.15 cells, MxA GTPase independently suppressed the production of hepatitis B surface antigen and HBV DNA without changing the level of hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg) and the distribution of HBV mRNA. MxA significantly reduced the level of the encapsidated pregenomic RNA. Through its central interactive domain, MxA interacted with HBcAg, causing accumulation of the proteins in perinuclear compartments. MxA-HBcAg interaction significantly affected the dynamics of HBcAg by immobilizing HBcAg in the perinuclear structures. CONCLUSION: MxA displays antiviral activity against HBV involving a mechanism of MxA-HBcAg interaction that may interfere with core particle formation.

Spatial attentional biases toward height-related words in young males with physical stature dissatisfaction.

By recording event-related potentials (ERPs) during a dot-probe task, the present study examined the neural dynamics of attentional bias toward height-related words among height dissatisfied males. Sixty male participants screened by Negative Physical Self Scale-Stature Concerns subscale (NPS-S) were assigned into a high height dissatisfaction (HHD) group and a low height dissatisfaction (LHD) group. The results showed that tall-related versus neutral words elicited larger N2pc for both HHD and LHD groups, whereas short-related versus neutral words elicited larger N2pc only for the HHD group. Additionally, an evident Pd was elicited by tall-related words for the HHD group, but not for the LHD group. Taken together, these findings revealed attentional biases toward height-related information for HHD individuals on a neural level. Specifically, HHD individuals showed an enhanced spatial attention oriented toward both tall-related and short-related words, and then, the allocated attention to the tall-related words was terminated by an active suppression mechanism.

The dissociation of semantically congruent and incongruent cross-modal effects on the visual attentional blink.

Introduction: Recent studies have found that the sound-induced alleviation of visual attentional blink, a well-known phenomenon exemplifying the beneficial influence of multisensory integration on time-based attention, was larger when that sound was semantically congruent relative to incongruent with the second visual target (T2). Although such an audiovisual congruency effect has been attributed mainly to the semantic conflict carried by the incongruent sound restraining that sound from facilitating T2 processing, it is still unclear whether the integrated semantic information carried by the congruent sound benefits T2 processing. Methods: To dissociate the congruence-induced benefit and incongruence-induced reduction in the alleviation of visual attentional blink at the behavioral and neural levels, the present study combined behavioral measures and event-related potential (ERP) recordings in a visual attentional blink task wherein the T2-accompanying sound, when delivered, could be semantically neutral in addition to congruent or incongruent with respect to T2. Results: The behavioral data clearly showed that compared to the neutral sound, the congruent sound improved T2 discrimination during the blink to a higher degree while the incongruent sound improved it to a lesser degree. The T2-locked ERP data revealed that the early occipital cross-modal N195 component (192-228 ms after T2 onset) was uniquely larger in the congruent-sound condition than in the neutral-sound and incongruent-sound conditions, whereas the late parietal cross-modal N440 component (400-500 ms) was prominent only in the incongruent-sound condition. Discussion: These findings provide strong evidence that the modulating effect of audiovisual semantic congruency on the sound-induced alleviation of visual attentional blink contains not only a late incongruence-induced cost but also an early congruence-induced benefit, thereby demonstrating for the first time an unequivocal congruent-sound-induced benefit in alleviating the limitation of time-based visual attention.