Distraction by irrelevant sound during foreperiods selectively impairs temporal preparation

When the interval between a warning signal (WS) and an imperative signal (IS), termed the foreperiod (FP), is variable across trials, reaction time (RT) to the IS typically decreases with increasing FP length. Here we examined the auditory filled-FP effect, which refers to a performance decrement after FPs filled with irrelevant auditory stimulation compared to FPs without additional stimulation. According to one account, irrelevant stimulation distracts individuals from processing time and probability information during the FP (distraction-during-FP hypothesis). This should predominantly affect long-FP trials. Alternatively, the filled-FP effect may arise from a failure to shift attention from FP modality to IS modality (attention-to-modality hypothesis). The first hypothesis focuses on preparatory processing, predicting a selective RT increase on long-FP trials, whereas the second hypothesis focuses on target processing, only predicting a global RT increase irrespective of FP length. Across four experiments, a filled-FP (compared to a blank-FP) condition consistently yielded a selective RT increase on long-FP trials, irrespective of FP–IS modality pairing. This pattern of results contradicts the attention-to-modality hypothesis but corroborates the distraction-during-FP hypothesis. More generally, these data have theoretical implications by supporting a multi-process view of temporal preparation under time uncertainty.

Research highlights
► Reaction time increases when the preparatory interval is filled with sound.
► This effect is especially pronounced with long variable preparatory intervals.
► It is further influenced by target modality, being larger with auditory targets.
► Sound may distract individuals from attending to time during preparatory intervals.
► The specific results have implications for models of temporal preparation.