Multisensory Integration Flashcards
What is multisensory integration?
Neural processes that are involved in synthesizing information from cross-modal stimulus combination in relation to the component stimuli
How is multisensory integration assessed?
Considering the effectiveness of the cross modal stimulus combination
What is cross-modal stimuli?
Stimuli from two or more sensory modalities or an event providing such stimuli
What is an optimal stimulus?
A stimulus to generate a response from a neurone
What does the stimulus cause?
An action potential and depolarisation of the neurone
What is sensory bombarding?
When there is a combination of different senses through MSI
What does MSI provide when there is sensory bombarding?
A unified representation of the object, environment and our body
What are the basic principles from MSI?
When info from different senses occur close in space and time they are more likely to arise from the same object
There is a spatial and temporal window
What is the temporal factor in MSI?
MSI is likely to occur the closer that the stimuli in the different modalities are present
What is the spatial factor in MSI?
Spatial coincidence facilitates MSI
What is MSI defined operationally?
A statistically significant difference between the number of impulses evoled by cross modal combinations of stimulus and the number evoked by the most effective of these stimulus individually
How does MSI work?
Through unimodal and bimodal neurones?
How do unimodal neurones work?
Responds to one stimulus but there is no response to from another so they do not influence each other
How do bimodal neurones work?
Responds to two stimulus it is likely that there is influence
What did Hartmann (1935) find?
Improvement of visual acuity by auditory stimuli in people with brain damage
What did Gonzalo (1945) find?
Multisensory syndrome in patients with parieto-occipital cortical lesions
Who looked at the behavioural benefits of MSI?
Stein et al, 1989
What did Stein et al, 1989, do?
Trained cats to go towards the visual stimulus or the auditory stimulus
What did Stein et al, 1989, find?
Performance of the cats was enhanced with crossmodal stimulation
Where is the superior colliculus located?
In the midbrain, superior to the brainstem and inferior to the thalamus
What is the structure of the superior collliculus?
7 layefs of alternating grey and white matter. High quantity of MS neurones