Results

Like in Experiments 1 and 2, CR and RTs were submitted to analyses of variance. The group (right tinnitus-simulated – RSIM, and left tinnitus-simulated – LSIM participants) was the between-subject factor, the ear of the task (RE/LE or LE/RE), the stimulus S1 type, and the inter-stimulus interval were the within-subject factors.

First, as in Experiments 1 and 2, the ANOVA performed on CR showed the classical effects of attention capture: participants responded more accurately to S2 after the presentation of a standard S1 (CRs = 94.62, SD = 5.38) than after the presentation of a deviant S1 (CRs = 93.24, SD = 6.77), F(1, 18) = 9.451, p < .01, and with the 150 ms ISI (CRs = 95.19, SD = 4.81), compared to the 100 ms ISI (CRs = 93.33, SD = 6.36) and to the 200 ms ISI (CRs = 93.27, SD = 6.93), F(2, 36) = 9.879, p < .001. However, these two factors interacted, as revealed by the stimulus S1 type by ISI interaction, F(2, 36) = 57.739, p < .0001. This interaction is illustrated in Figure 8. Contrast analyses revealed that participants responded more accurately to S2 after a standard than after a deviant S1 for the ISI 100, F(1, 36) = 127.83, p < .0001, but, conversely, they responded more accurately after the deviant than after the standard S1 for the ISI 200, F(1, 36) = 8.36, p < .01. No difference reached the significance for the ISI 150, F(1, 36) < 1.

ANOVA on RTs showed only two main effects: participants responded faster to S2 after the presentation of a standard S1 (RTs = 615 ms, SD = 105.24) than after a deviant S1 (RTs = 641, SD = 123.20), F(1, 18) = 17.471, p < .001, and that the longer the ISI, the faster the response, F(2, 36) = 43.683, p < .0001.

Like in Experiment 2, we performed further ANOVAs on CR and RTs in order to compare the attention capture effect according to the side of the tinnitus-simulated signal. The group (right or left tinnitus-simulated participants) was the between-subject factor, the ear of the task (tinnitus-simulated ear versus non tinnitus-simulated ear), the stimulus S1 type, and the inter-stimulus interval were the within-subject factors.

These two ANOVAs showed only the classical attention capture effects, and no significant effect of the factor “Simulated-Ear”.