人和动物通过多种外周感觉器官获得感觉信息，大脑能够整合这些信息，从而快速的对外界环境变化做出反应。多感觉整合功能的发育成熟需要出生后早期的经验。最近研究发现，出生后早期噪音环境饲养剥夺听觉相关的多感觉经验，会引起猫中脑上丘神经元视－听多感觉整合功能障碍。那么在噪音环境中长大的动物，其上丘神经元是否还保持着可塑性，是否还具有重新发展起视-听多感觉整合功能的能力？如果可以，需要采取怎样的方法诱导？本项目将通过视-听多感觉联合刺激训练，诱导成年上丘多感觉整合功能的康复。随着训练的进行，用电生理的方法检测上丘神经元视－听多感觉整合能力的变化；神经元视觉听觉空间感受野的变化，以及二者位置关系的变化；检测神经元多感觉整合的时间规则、空间规则和强度规则；在多感觉联合刺激训练后，检测神经元对其他非训练视-听联合刺激的整合。这一研究将为幼年时期感觉功能障碍病人在成年后的多感觉整合功能康复提供理论依据。

Humans and animals use many different sensory organs to receive sensory information from the environment. The brain has the capability to integrate information from different senses, more accurate and more rapid behavioral response can be achieved through this process. The multisensory integration capability emerges gradually during early postnatal life as a consequence of experience with cross-modal stimuli. Recent research found that when auditory related multisensory experience was precluded by rearing cats in continuous omnidirectional noise environment, their SC (superior colliculus) neurons do not express their ability to integrate visual-auditory inputs. Whether the SC neurons are still plastic, whether this capability can be acquired later in life, and how to initiate the development of multisensory integration in adult SC? In the present proposal, we try to initiate the development of multisensory integration capability of adult SC neurons by exposing animals to repeated visual-auditory cross modal stimulus. During the weekly exposure and electrophysiological recording session, we test the multisensory integration capability of SC neurons; the visual and auditory receptive field properties and their relationships; the three multisensory integration principles: spatial principle, temporal principle and inverse effectiveness. Furthermore, after exposure, we test whether the neuron can generalize the multisensory integration capability to other cross-modal stimulus combinations which is different from the experienced one. It is also likely to be of substantial important in the context of the rehabilitative efforts directed at people with developmental sensory system disorders.