Movement Induces the Use of External Spatial Coordinates for Tactile Localization in Congenitally Blind Humans (Advance Article)
Source: Page Count 22To localize touch, the brain integrates spatial information coded in anatomically based and external spatial reference frames. Sighted humans, by default, use both reference frames in tactile localization. In contrast, congenitally blind individuals have been reported to rely exclusively on anatomical coordinates, suggesting a crucial role of the visual system for tactile spatial processing. We tested whether the use of external spatial information in touch can, alternatively, be induced by a movement context. Sighted and congenitally blind humans performed a tactile temporal order judgment task that i...
Source: Multisensory research - March 30, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tobias Heed, Johanna Möller and Brigitte Röder Source Type: research
Task-Specific, Age Related Effects in the Cross-Modal Identification and Localisation of Objects (Advance Article)
Source: Page Count 41We investigated age-related effects in cross-modal interactions using tasks assessing spatial perception and object perception. Specifically, an audio-visual object identification task and an audio-visual object localisation task were used to assess putatively distinct perceptual functions in four age groups: children (8–11 years), adolescents (12–14 years), young and older adults. Participants were required to either identify or locate target objects. Targets were specified as unisensory (visual/auditory) or multisensory (audio-visual congruent/audio-visual incongruent) stimuli. We found age-relat...
Source: Multisensory research - March 27, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Maeve M. Barrett and Fiona N. Newell Source Type: research
Audio-Visual Stimulation Improves Visual Search Abilities in Hemianopia due to Childhood Acquired Brain Lesions (Advance Article)
Source: Page Count 19Results obtained in both animal models and hemianopic patients indicate that sound, spatially and temporally coincident with a visual stimulus, can improve visual perception in the blind hemifield, probably due to activation of ‘multisensory neurons’, mainly located in the superior colliculus. In view of this evidence, a new rehabilitation approach, based on audiovisual stimulation of visual field, has been proposed, and applied in adults with visual field reduction due to unilateral brain lesions. So far, results have been very encouraging, with improvements in visual search abilities. Based on th...
Source: Multisensory research - March 27, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Francesca Tinelli, Giulia Purpura and Giovanni Cioni Source Type: research
Multisensory Integration and Calibration in Children and Adults with and without Sensory and Motor Disabilities (Advance Article)
Source: Page Count 29During the first years of life, sensory modalities communicate with each other. This process is fundamental for the development of unisensory and multisensory skills. The absence of one sensory input impacts on the development of other modalities. Since 2008 we have studied these aspects and developed our cross-sensory calibration theory. This theory emerged from the observation that children start to integrate multisensory information (such as vision and touch) only after 8–10 years of age. Before this age the more accurate sense teaches (calibrates) the others; when one calibrating modality is miss...
Source: Multisensory research - March 27, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Monica Gori Source Type: research
Unraveling Cross-Modal Development in Animals: Neural Substrate, Functional Coding and Behavioral Readout (Advance Article)
Source: Page Count 37The interaction of every living organism with its environment relies on sensory abilities. Hence, sensory systems need to develop rapidly and early in life to guarantee an individual’s survival. Sensors have to emerge that are equipped with receptors that detect a variety of stimuli. These sensors have to be wired in basic interconnected networks that possess the ability to process the uni- as well as multisensory information encoded in the sensory input. Plastic changes to refine and optimize these circuits need to be effected quickly during periods of sensory experience so that uni- and multisensor...
Source: Multisensory research - March 27, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Ileana L. Hanganu-Opatz, Benjamin A. Rowland, Malte Bieler and Kay Sieben Source Type: research
Book Review: Synesthetic Design: Handbook for a Multisensory Approach, written by Michael Haverkamp (Advance Article)
Source: Page Count 4 (Source: Multisensory research)
Source: Multisensory research - March 27, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Charles Spence Source Type: research
Adapting the Crossmodal Congruency Task for Measuring the Limits of Visual–Tactile Interactions Within and Between Groups (Advance Article)
Source: Page Count 18The crossmodal congruency task (CCT) is a commonly used paradigm for measuring visual–tactile interactions and how these may be influenced by discrepancies in space and time between the tactile target and visual distractors. The majority of studies which have used this paradigm have neither measured, nor attempted to control, individual variability in unisensory (tactile) performance. We have developed a version of the CCT in which unisensory baseline performance is constrained to enable comparisons within and between participant groups. Participants were instructed to discriminate between single and...
Source: Multisensory research - March 27, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Daniel Poole, Samuel Couth, Emma Gowen, Paul A. Warren and Ellen Poliakoff Source Type: research
Two-Dimensional Rubber-Hand Illusion: The Dorian Gray Hand Illusion (Advance Article)
Source: Page Count 10The rubber-hand illusion provides a window into body representation and consciousness. It has been found that body-ownership extended to numerous hand-like objects. Interestingly, the vast majority of these objects were three-dimensional. We adopted this paradigm by using hand drawings to investigate whether rubber-hand illusion could be extended to two-dimensional hand samples, and we measured skin conductance responses and behavioural variables. The fact that this illusion extended to two-dimensional stimuli reveals the dominant role of top–down information on visual perception for body representat...
Source: Multisensory research - March 27, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Achille Pasqualotto and Michael J. Proulx Source Type: research
Visual–Somatosensory Integration is Linked to Physical Activity Level in Older Adults (Advance Article)
Source: Page Count 19Studies examining multisensory integration (MSI) in aging consistently demonstrate greater reaction time (RT) facilitation in old compared to young adults, but often fail to determine the utility of MSI. The aim of the current experiment was to further elucidate the utility of MSI in aging by determining its relationship to physical activity level. 147 non-demented older adults (mean age 77 years; 57% female) participated. Participants were instructed to make speeded responses to visual, somatosensory, and visual–somatosensory (VS) stimuli. Depending on the magnitude of the individuals’ RT facilita...
Source: Multisensory research - January 27, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Jeannette R. Mahoney, Kristina Dumas and Roee Holtzer Source Type: research
The Effects of Complete Vestibular Deafferentation on Spatial Memory and the Hippocampus in the Rat: The Dunedin Experience (Advance Article)
Source: Page Count 25Our studies conducted over the last 14 years have demonstrated that a complete bilateral vestibular deafferentation (BVD) in rats results in spatial memory deficits in a variety of behavioural tasks, such as the radial arm maze, the foraging task and the spatial T maze, as well as deficits in other tasks such as the five-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRT task) and object recognition memory task. These deficits persist long after the BVD, and are not simply attributable to ataxia, anxiety, hearing loss or hyperactivity. In tasks such as the foraging task, the spatial memory deficits are evident i...
Source: Multisensory research - December 18, 2014 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Paul F. Smith, Cynthia L. Darlington and Yiwen Zheng Source Type: research
Spatial Frequency Modulates the Degree of Illusory Second Flash Perception (Advance Article)
Source: Page Count 10When a brief single flash is presented simultaneously with two brief beeps, the number of presented flashes is often perceived as two. This phenomenon is referred to as the fission illusion. Several effects related to the fission illusion have been investigated using both psychophysical and neurophysiological methods. The present study examined the effects of spatial frequency on the fission illusion. At a low spatial frequency, transient channels respond preferably; conversely, sustained channels respond preferably at a high spatial frequency. Sustained channels differ in temporal properties from tran...
Source: Multisensory research - December 18, 2014 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Yasuhiro Takeshima and Jiro Gyoba Source Type: research
Author Index to Volume 27
Source: Volume 27, Issue 5-6, pp 449 - 450 (Source: Multisensory research)
Source: Multisensory research - November 11, 2014 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
Subject Index to Volume 27
Source: Volume 27, Issue 5-6, pp 447 - 448 (Source: Multisensory research)
Source: Multisensory research - November 11, 2014 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
Contents Index to Volume 27
Source: Volume 27, Issue 5-6, pp 443 - 446 (Source: Multisensory research)
Source: Multisensory research - November 11, 2014 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research
The Process of Distal Attribution Illuminated Through Studies of Sensory Substitution
Source: Volume 27, Issue 5-6, pp 421 - 441When we interact with objects in our environment, as a general rule we are not aware of the proximal stimulation they provide, but we directly experience the external object. This process of assigning an external cause is known as distal attribution. It is extremely difficult to measure how distal attribution emerges because it arises so early in life and appears to be automatic. Sensory substitution systems give us the possibility to measure the process as it occurs online. With these devices, objects in our environment produce novel proximal stimulation patterns and individuals h...
Source: Multisensory research - November 11, 2014 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Jess Hartcher-O’Brien and Malika Auvray Source Type: research
