The role of sequential effects in multisensory processing: A combined computational modelling and electrophysiology study

顺序效应在多感觉处理中的作用：计算建模和电生理学的结合研究

• 批准号: 2589449
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of St Andrews
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2589449
• 关键词: role; sequential; effects; multisensory; processing

The availability of multiple senses is highly beneficial to control behaviour. Different senses like audition, vision, and touch not only increase the spectrum of perceivable signals but also provide redundant signals that, by combination, enable better estimates of external events and/or faster achievements of subjective goals. However, we do not yet fully understand the brain functions that guide the combination of multisensory signals. From the perspective of a computational modelling approach with behavioural data, a key challenge lies in the sequential dependency of behavioural responses (Otto & Mamassian, 2012). For example, the speed of a response to an auditory signal hugely depends on the sequence of signals that have been presented previously. Strikingly, the contribution of sequential dependencies has been largely neglected in studies investigating neuronal correlates of multisensory processing and may provide a major confounding factor.The proposed PhD project aims to close this gap by systematically investigating the role of sequential dependency on multisensory processing. The project will follow an interdisciplinary approach. On a first level, we will use a computational modelling approach to analyse behavioural responses, which allows to quantify specific processing interactions with multisensory signals (Otto lab). On a second level, the mathematical modelling approach will then inform the analysis of EEG recordings to gain understanding of the underlying brain functions (Jentzsch lab; e.g., Saunders & Jentzsch, 2012).

多种感官的可用性对于控制行为非常有益。听觉、视觉和触觉等不同的感官不仅增加了可感知信号的频谱，而且还提供了冗余信号，通过组合这些信号，可以更好地估计外部事件和/或更快地实现主观目标。然而，我们尚未完全了解指导多感官信号组合的大脑功能。从行为数据计算建模方法的角度来看，一个关键挑战在于行为反应的顺序依赖性（Otto & Mamassian，2012）。例如，对听觉信号的响应速度很大程度上取决于先前呈现的信号的顺序。引人注目的是，在研究多感觉处理的神经元相关性的研究中，顺序依赖性的贡献在很大程度上被忽视，并且可能提供一个主要的混杂因素。拟议的博士项目旨在通过系统地研究顺序依赖性对多感觉处理的作用来缩小这一差距。该项目将遵循跨学科的方法。在第一个层面上，我们将使用计算建模方法来分析行为反应，这可以量化与多感官信号的特定处理交互（奥托实验室）。在第二个层面上，数学建模方法将指导脑电图记录的分析，以了解潜在的大脑功能（Jentzsch 实验室；例如，Saunders & Jentzsch，2012）。