Multisensory Comings, Goings, and Switches
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1
EEG Brain Mapping Core, Switzerland
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2
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois and University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Two everyday situations where multisensory processes likely play a role are 1) the determination of potential threats in the environment, and 2) the determination of and action upon sensory information that is currently relevant for a given behavior or goal. This talk will present our recent results on the spatio-temporal brain mechanisms contributing to both these situations. The first part of the talk will show that multisensory processes selectively facilitate responses to approaching (i.e. looming) stimuli as studied using combinations of psychophysical, electrical neuroimaging (ERP), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) methods. Such phenomena not only extend the spatial principle that has thus far been largely based on stimulus position in azimuth to positions varying in their perceived distance from the observer, but also highlight the role of multisensory processing in the rapid and efficient processing of potential threats/rewards in the environment. The second portion of the talk discusses our ability to flexibly switch between performing tasks in one or another sensory modality, which are thought to rely on executive/control processes. The efficacy of these processes may depend on the extent of overlap (in either anatomical or functional terms) between circuitry mediating the different tasks; more effective task preparation (and by extension smaller switch costs) is achieved when this overlap is small. We investigated the performance costs associated with switching tasks and/or switching sensory modalities. Using previously-identified ‘what’ and ‘where’ functional subdivisions of the auditory and visual systems as a basis, participants discriminated either the semantic category or spatial location of unisensory objects. Switch costs between these tasks were significantly smaller when the sensory modality of the task switched versus when it repeated. In addition, auditory and visual switch costs were positively correlated when the sensory modality of the task repeated across trials but not when it switched. The collective evidence supports the independence of control processes mediating task switching and modality switching and also the hypothesis that switch costs reflect competitive interference between neural circuits. One implication for multisensory processes is that interactions between the senses might be grafted on to the functionally specialized ‘what’ and ‘where’ pathways.
Conference:
10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Bodrum, Türkiye, 1 Sep - 5 Sep, 2008.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Symposium 3: Neural basis of multisensory integration
Citation:
Murray
MM
(2008). Multisensory Comings, Goings, and Switches.
Conference Abstract:
10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience.
doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.018
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Received:
27 Nov 2008;
Published Online:
27 Nov 2008.
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Correspondence:
Micah M Murray, EEG Brain Mapping Core, Lausanne, Switzerland, micah.murray@hospvd.ch