Perceptual training narrows the temporal window of multisensory binding.

Full Abstract

The brain's ability to bind incoming auditory and visual stimuli depends critically on the temporal structure of this information. Specifically, there exists a temporal window of audiovisual integration within which stimuli are highly likely to be bound together and perceived as part of the same environmental event. Several studies have described the temporal bounds of this window, but few have investigated its malleability. Here, the plasticity in the size of this temporal window was investigated using a perceptual learning paradigm in which participants were given feedback during a two-alternative forced choice (2-AFC) audiovisual simultaneity judgment task. Training resulted in a marked (i.e., approximately 40%) narrowing in the size of the window. To rule out the possibility that this narrowing was the result of changes in cognitive biases, a second experiment using a two-interval forced choice (2-IFC) paradigm was undertaken during which participants were instructed to identify a simultaneously presented audiovisual pair presented within one of two intervals. The 2-IFC paradigm resulted in a narrowing that was similar in both degree and dynamics to that using the 2-AFC approach. Together, these results illustrate that different methods of multisensory perceptual training can result in substantial alterations in the circuits underlying the perception of audiovisual simultaneity. These findings suggest a high degree of flexibility in multisensory temporal processing and have important implications for interventional strategies that may be used to ameliorate clinical conditions (e.g., autism, dyslexia) in which multisensory temporal function may be impaired.

Author information

Author/s: Powers, Albert R (AR); Hillock, Andrea R (AR); Wallace, Mark T (MT);

Affiliation: Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee 37232, USA. albert.powers(-atsign-)vanderbilt.edu

Grants: F30 DC009759 (Agency:NIDCD NIH HHS) ; F30 DC009759-01A2 (Agency:NIDCD NIH HHS) ; HD050860 (Agency:NICHD NIH HHS) ; R03 HD050860-01 (Agency:NICHD NIH HHS) ; R03 HD050860-02 (Agency:NICHD NIH HHS) ; R03 HD050860-03 (Agency:NICHD NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience (J Neurosci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Sep; vol 29 (issue 39) : pp 12265-74

Dates: Created 2009/10/01; Completed 2009/10/13; Revised 2009/11/04;

PMID: 19793985, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/5/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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