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Auditory attention that appears in the eyeRelation between microsaccades and auditory spatial attention 
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The eyes reflect various states of mind. It is known that gaze directed to an object of interest, but also that microsaccades, involuntary tiny eye movements, reflect the visual covert attention. Here, we investigated the relationship between microsaccades and spatial auditory attention. We found that microsaccades reflect the direction of auditory attention during a dichotic selective attention task and are also associated with task performance. Although many previous studies have already shown a link between microsaccades and visual attention, this study showed that they are also linked to auditory attention processes. We believe that this finding will lead to the development of technology for estimating attention states that vary spontaneously and instantaneously (e.g., estimating information such as the voice to which a person is paying attention at the party). We also hope that this result encourages future studies to elucidate the mechanisms of how our auditory system coordinates spatial attention.
[1] S. Yamagishi, S. Furukawa, “Simultaneous measures of auditory brainstem frequency following response, pupillary response, and microsaccade during auditory selective attention task,” in Proc. 42nd Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO) Midwinter Meeting, 2020.
[2] S. Yamagishi, S. Furukawa, “Relationship between auditory selective attention and microsaccades,” in Proc. The Auditory Research Meeting, 2020.
Shimpei Yamagishi / Sensory representation research Group, Human and Information Science Laboratory
Email: cs-openhouse-ml@hco.ntt.co.jp