Making Sense of the Body: the Role of Vestibular Signals (Advance Article)
Source: Page Count 33The role of the vestibular system in posture and eye movement control has been extensively described. By contrast, how vestibular signals contribute to bodily perceptions is a more recent research area in the field of cognitive neuroscience. In the present review article, I will summarize recent findings showing that vestibular signals play a crucial role in making sense of the body. First, data will be presented showing that vestibular signals contribute to bodily perceptions ranging from low-level bodily perceptions, such as touch, pain, and the processing of the body’s metric properties, to higher...
Source: Multisensory research - May 28, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Christophe Lopez Source Type: research
Audio-Visual, Visuo-Tactile and Audio-Tactile Correspondences in Preschoolers (Advance Article)
Source: Page Count 19Interest in crossmodal correspondences has recently seen a renaissance thanks to numerous studies in human adults. Yet, still very little is known about crossmodal correspondences in children, particularly in sensory pairings other than audition and vision. In the current study, we investigated whether 4–5-year-old children match auditory pitch to the spatial motion of visual objects (audio-visual condition). In addition, we investigated whether this correspondence extends to touch, i.e., whether children also match auditory pitch to the spatial motion of touch (audio-tactile condition) and the spati...
Source: Multisensory research - May 28, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Elena Nava, Massimo Grassi and Chiara Turati Source Type: research
Visuotactile Temporal Recalibration Transfers Across Different Locations
Source: Volume 28, Issue 3-4, pp 351 - 370Following prolonged exposure to audiovisual asynchrony, an observer’s point of subjective simultaneity (PSS) shifts in the direction of the leading modality. It has been debated whether other sensory pairings, such as vision and touch, lead to a similar temporal recalibration, and if so, whether the internal timing mechanism underlying lag visuotactile adaptation is centralised or distributed. To address these questions, we adapted observers to vision- and tactile-leading visuotactile asynchrony on either their left or right hand side in different blocks. In one test condition, p...
Source: Multisensory research - April 30, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Hao Tam Ho, Emily Orchard-Mills and David Alais Source Type: research
A Potential Role of Auditory Induced Modulations in Primary Visual Cortex
Source: Volume 28, Issue 3-4, pp 331 - 349A biologically relevant event is normally the source of multiple, typically correlated, sensory inputs. To optimize perception of the outer world, our brain combines the independent sensory measurements into a coherent estimate. However, if sensory information is not readily available for every pertinent sense, the brain tries to acquire additional information via covert/overt orienting behaviors or uses internal knowledge to modulate sensory sensitivity based on prior expectations. Cross-modal functional modulation of low-level auditory areas due to visual input has been often des...
Source: Multisensory research - April 30, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Frederico A. C. Azevedo, Michael Ortiz-Rios, Qinglin Li, Nikos K. Logothetis and Georgios A. Keliris Source Type: research
Bernhard Sabel and ‘Residual Vision Activation Theory’: a History Spanning Three Decades
Source: Volume 28, Issue 3-4, pp 309 - 330This review has the purpose of retracing the work of Professor Bernard Sabel and his group over the last 2–3 decades, in order to understand how they achieved formulation of the ‘Residual Vision Activation Theory’. The methodology proposed is described, from the first studies in 1995 with High Resolution Perimetry requiring a six-months training period, to the new technologies, such as repetitive transorbital Alternating Current Stimulation, that require ten days of training. Vision restoration therapy has shown improvement in visual responses irrespective of age at the train...
Source: Multisensory research - April 30, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Simona Turco, Emilio Albamonte, Daniela Ricci, Stefania Fortini and Filippo Maria Amore Source Type: research
Plasticity, and Its Limits, in Adult Human Primary Visual Cortex
Source: Volume 28, Issue 3-4, pp 297 - 307There is an ongoing debate about whether adult human primary visual cortex (V1) is capable of large-scale cortical reorganization in response to bilateral retinal lesions. Animal models suggest that the visual neural circuitry maintains some plasticity through adulthood, and there are also a few human imaging studies in support this notion. However, the interpretation of these data has been brought into question, because there are factors besides cortical reorganization, such as the presence of sampling bias and/or the unmasking of task-dependent feedback signals from higher level ...
Source: Multisensory research - April 30, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Koen V. Haak, Antony B. Morland and Stephen A. Engel Source Type: research
Where Is Size in the Brain of the Beholder?
Source: Volume 28, Issue 3-4, pp 285 - 296Despite advances in our understanding of how the brain represents visual space, it remains unresolved how the subjective experience of an object’s size arises. While responses in retinotopic cortex correlate with perceived size, this does not imply that those brain regions mediate perceived size differences. Here I describe how the percept of an object’s size could be generated in the brain and outline unanswered questions that future research should seek to address. (Source: Multisensory research)
Source: Multisensory research - April 30, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Dietrich Samuel Schwarzkopf Source Type: research
The Mechanisms of Size Constancy
Source: Volume 28, Issue 3-4, pp 253 - 283Size constancy is the result of cognitive scaling operations that enable us to perceive an object as having the same size when presented at different viewing distances. In this article, we review the literature on size and distance perception to form an overarching synthesis of how the brain might combine retinal images and distance cues of retinal and extra-retinal origin to produce a perceptual visual experience of a world where objects have a constant size. A convergence of evidence from visual psychophysics, neurophysiology, neuropsychology, electrophysiology and neuroimaging ...
Source: Multisensory research - April 30, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Irene Sperandio and Philippe A. Chouinard Source Type: research
Assessing the Role of Taste Intensity and Hedonics in Taste–Shape Correspondences
Source: Page Count 13Taste liking influences the way in which people match tastes to shapes. However, taste–shape matching cannot be explained entirely by taste hedonics. Here, we assess whether variations in taste intensity influence such crossmodal correspondences. Participants were presented with five basic tastants in two concentrations and had to rate them on roundness/angularity shape scales, as well as in terms of liking, and intensity. The results revealed that taste quality, intensity, and participants’ liking of the taste significantly predicted the roundness/angularity of the tastants. The results also revea...
Source: Multisensory research - April 27, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Carlos Velasco, Andy Woods, Jason Liu and Charles Spence Source Type: research
Assessing the Role of Taste Intensity and Hedonics in Taste–Shape Correspondences (Advance Article)
Source: Page Count 13Taste liking influences the way in which people match tastes to shapes. However, taste–shape matching cannot be explained entirely by taste hedonics. Here, we assess whether variations in taste intensity influence such crossmodal correspondences. Participants were presented with five basic tastants in two concentrations and had to rate them on roundness/angularity shape scales, as well as in terms of liking, and intensity. The results revealed that taste quality, intensity, and participants’ liking of the taste significantly predicted the roundness/angularity of the tastants. The results also revea...
Source: Multisensory research - April 27, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Carlos Velasco, Andy Woods, Jason Liu and Charles Spence Source Type: research
Introduction to the Special Issue on Multimodality of Early Sensory Processing: Early Visual Maps Flexibly Encode Multimodal Space (Advance Article)
Source: Page Count 4 (Source: Multisensory research)
Source: Multisensory research - April 24, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Roberto Arrighi, Paola Binda and Guido Marco Cicchini Source Type: research
Visuotactile Temporal Recalibration Transfers Across Different Locations (Advance Article)
Source: Page Count 20Following prolonged exposure to audiovisual asynchrony, an observer’s point of subjective simultaneity (PSS) shifts in the direction of the leading modality. It has been debated whether other sensory pairings, such as vision and touch, lead to a similar temporal recalibration, and if so, whether the internal timing mechanism underlying lag visuotactile adaptation is centralised or distributed. To address these questions, we adapted observers to vision- and tactile-leading visuotactile asynchrony on either their left or right hand side in different blocks. In one test condition, participants performed...
Source: Multisensory research - April 24, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Hao Tam Ho, Emily Orchard-Mills and David Alais Source Type: research
Plasticity, and Its Limits, in Adult Human Primary Visual Cortex (Advance Article)
Source: Page Count 11There is an ongoing debate about whether adult human primary visual cortex (V1) is capable of large-scale cortical reorganization in response to bilateral retinal lesions. Animal models suggest that the visual neural circuitry maintains some plasticity through adulthood, and there are also a few human imaging studies in support this notion. However, the interpretation of these data has been brought into question, because there are factors besides cortical reorganization, such as the presence of sampling bias and/or the unmasking of task-dependent feedback signals from higher level visual areas, that co...
Source: Multisensory research - April 24, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Koen V. Haak, Antony B. Morland and Stephen A. Engel Source Type: research
A Potential Role of Auditory Induced Modulations in Primary Visual Cortex (Advance Article)
Source: Page Count 19A biologically relevant event is normally the source of multiple, typically correlated, sensory inputs. To optimize perception of the outer world, our brain combines the independent sensory measurements into a coherent estimate. However, if sensory information is not readily available for every pertinent sense, the brain tries to acquire additional information via covert/overt orienting behaviors or uses internal knowledge to modulate sensory sensitivity based on prior expectations. Cross-modal functional modulation of low-level auditory areas due to visual input has been often described; however, less...
Source: Multisensory research - April 24, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Frederico A. C. Azevedo, Michael Ortiz-Rios, Qinglin Li, Nikos K. Logothetis and Georgios A. Keliris Source Type: research
Vestibular–Somatosensory Interactions: A Mechanism in Search of a Function? (Advance Article)
Source: Page Count 21No unimodal vestibular cortex has been identified in the human brain. Rather, vestibular inputs are strongly integrated with signals from other sensory modalities, such as vision, touch and proprioception. This convergence could reflect an important mechanism for maintaining a perception of the body, including individual body parts, relative to the rest of the environment. Neuroimaging, electrophysiological and psychophysical studies showed evidence for multisensory interactions between vestibular and somatosensory signals. However, no convincing overall theoretical framework has been proposed for vest...
Source: Multisensory research - April 23, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Elisa Raffaella Ferrè and Patrick Haggard Source Type: research
