Faculty Opinions recommendation of Early visual deprivation impairs multisensory interactions in humans.

Multisensory interactions in perception are pervasive and fundamental, as we have documented throughout this book. In this final chapter, we propose that contemporary work on multisensory processing is a paradigm shift in perception science, calling for a radical reconsideration of empirical and theoretical questions within an entirely new perspective. In making our case, we emphasize that multisensory perception is the norm, not the exception, and we remark that multisensory interactions can occur early in sensory processing. We reiterate the key notions that multisensory interactions come in different kinds and that principles of multisensory processing must be considered when tackling multisensory daily-life problems. We discuss the role of unisensory processing in a multisensory world, and we conclude by suggesting future directions for the multisensory field.

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Time

10.1093/oso/9780198725022.003.0008 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Bruno and

Keyword(s):

Temporal Coherence ◽

The Other ◽

Sensory Receptors ◽

Traditional Notion ◽

Physical Energy ◽

Multisensory Interactions ◽

The Senses ◽

Perception Of Time ◽

Temporal Extent ◽

Stimulus Time

Within the traditional notion of the senses, the perception of time is especially puzzling. There is no specific physical energy carrying information about time, and hence no sensory receptors can transduce a ‘temporal stimulus.’ Time-related properties of events can instead be shown to emerge from specific perceptual processes involving multisensory interactions. In this chapter, we will examine five such properties: the awareness that two events occur at the same time (simultaneity) or one after the other (succession); the coherent time-stamping of events despite inaccuracies and imprecisions in coding simultaneity and succession (temporal coherence); the awareness of the temporal extent occupied by events (duration); the organization of events in regular temporal units (rhythm).

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Synaesthesia

10.1093/oso/9780198725022.003.0006 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Bruno and

Keyword(s):

Experimental Results ◽

Multisensory Perception ◽

Related Phenomenon ◽

Perceptual Modality ◽

Sensory Channel ◽

Multisensory Interactions ◽

Crossmodal Associations ◽

The Brain

Synaesthesia is a curious anomaly of multisensory perception. When presented with stimulation in one sensory channel, in addition to the percept usually associated with that channel (inducer) a true synaesthetic experiences a second percept in another perceptual modality (concurrent). Although synaesthesia is not pathological, true synaesthetes are relatively rare and their synaesthetic associations tend to be quite idiosyncratic. For this reason, studying synaesthesia is difficult, but exciting new experimental results are beginning to clarify what makes the brain of synaesthetes special and the mechanisms that may produce the condition. Even more importantly, the related phenomenon known as ‘natural’ crossmodal associations is instead experienced by everyone, providing another useful domain for studying multisensory interactions with important implications for understanding our preferences for products in terms of spontaneously evoked associations, as well as for choosing appropriate names, labels, and packaging in marketing applications.

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Enhancing Qualities of Consciousness during Online Learning via Multisensory Interactions

Behavioral Sciences ◽

10.3390/bs11050057 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 57

Author(s):

Valentina Cesari ◽

Benedetta Galgani ◽

Angelo Gemignani ◽

Danilo Menicucci

Keyword(s):

Online Learning ◽

Virtual Environments ◽

Information Technologies ◽

Physical Distance ◽

Traditional Learning ◽

Sense Of Presence ◽

Lack Of Control ◽

Multisensory Interactions ◽

Feasible Alternative

Online-learning is a feasible alternative to in-person attendance during COVID-19 pandemic. In this period, information technologies have allowed sharing experiences, but have also highlighted some limitations compared to traditional learning. Learning is strongly supported by some qualities of consciousness such as flow (intended as the optimal state of absorption and engagement activity) and sense of presence (feeling of exerting control, interacting with and getting immersed into real/virtual environments), behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement, together with the need for social interaction. During online learning, feelings of disconnection, social isolation, distractions, boredom, and lack of control exert a detrimental effect on the ability to reach the state of flow, the feeling of presence, the feeling of social involvement. Since online environments could prevent the rising of these learning–supporting variables, this article aims at describing the role of flow, presence, engagement, and social interactions during online sessions and at characterizing multisensory stimulations as a driver to cope with these issues. We argue that the use of augmented, mixed, or virtual reality can support the above-mentioned domains, and thus counteract the detrimental effects of physical distance. Such support could be further increased by enhancing multisensory stimulation modalities within augmented and virtual environments.

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Sensory feedback-dependent coding of arm position in local field potentials of the posterior parietal cortex

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-88278-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Paul VanGilder ◽

Ying Shi ◽

Gregory Apker ◽

Christopher A. Buneo

Keyword(s):

Local Field ◽

Sensory Feedback ◽

Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽

Spectral Power ◽

Field Potential ◽

Beta Activity ◽

Beta Band ◽

Arm Position ◽

Multisensory Interactions ◽

Spiking Activity

AbstractAlthough multisensory integration is crucial for sensorimotor function, it is unclear how visual and proprioceptive sensory cues are combined in the brain during motor behaviors. Here we characterized the effects of multisensory interactions on local field potential (LFP) activity obtained from the superior parietal lobule (SPL) as non-human primates performed a reaching task with either unimodal (proprioceptive) or bimodal (visual-proprioceptive) sensory feedback. Based on previous analyses of spiking activity, we hypothesized that evoked LFP responses would be tuned to arm location but would be suppressed on bimodal trials, relative to unimodal trials. We also expected to see a substantial number of recording sites with enhanced beta band spectral power for only one set of feedback conditions (e.g. unimodal or bimodal), as was previously observed for spiking activity. We found that evoked activity and beta band power were tuned to arm location at many individual sites, though this tuning often differed between unimodal and bimodal trials. Across the population, both evoked and beta activity were consistent with feedback-dependent tuning to arm location, while beta band activity also showed evidence of response suppression on bimodal trials. The results suggest that multisensory interactions can alter the tuning and gain of arm position-related LFP activity in the SPL.

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Visual Anticipatory Information Modulates Multisensory Interactions of Artificial Audiovisual Stimuli

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.2009.21308 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 22 (7) ◽

pp. 1583-1596 ◽

Cited By ~ 87

Author(s):

Jean Vroomen ◽

Jeroen J. Stekelenburg

Keyword(s):

Visual Information ◽

Speech Sound ◽

Human Action ◽

Visual Signal ◽

Multisensory Interactions ◽

Temporal Occurrence ◽

Audiovisual Stimuli ◽

The Moment ◽

Integrative Processing ◽

Audiovisual Interaction

The neural activity of speech sound processing (the N1 component of the auditory ERP) can be suppressed if a speech sound is accompanied by concordant lip movements. Here we demonstrate that this audiovisual interaction is neither speech specific nor linked to humanlike actions but can be observed with artificial stimuli if their timing is made predictable. In Experiment 1, a pure tone synchronized with a deformation of a rectangle induced a smaller auditory N1 than auditory-only presentations if the temporal occurrence of this audiovisual event was made predictable by two moving disks that touched the rectangle. Local autoregressive average source estimation indicated that this audiovisual interaction may be related to integrative processing in auditory areas. When the moving disks did not precede the audiovisual stimulus—making the onset unpredictable—there was no N1 reduction. In Experiment 2, the predictability of the leading visual signal was manipulated by introducing a temporal asynchrony between the audiovisual event and the collision of moving disks. Audiovisual events occurred either at the moment, before (too “early”), or after (too “late”) the disks collided on the rectangle. When asynchronies varied from trial to trial—rendering the moving disks unreliable temporal predictors of the audiovisual event—the N1 reduction was abolished. These results demonstrate that the N1 suppression is induced by visual information that both precedes and reliably predicts audiovisual onset, without a necessary link to human action-related neural mechanisms.

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