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

多种感官的可用性对控制行为非常有益。听觉、视觉和触觉等不同的感觉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，可以更好地估计外部事件和/或更快地实现主观目标。然而，我们还没有完全了解大脑的功能，指导多感官信号的组合。从行为数据的计算建模方法的角度来看，一个关键的挑战在于行为反应的顺序依赖性（Otto & Mamassian，2012）。例如，对听觉信号的反应速度在很大程度上取决于先前呈现的信号序列。引人注目的是，顺序依赖性的贡献在很大程度上被忽视的研究调查神经元相关的多感觉处理，并可能提供一个主要的混淆factor.The拟议的博士项目旨在通过系统地调查顺序依赖性对多感觉处理的作用，以缩小这一差距。该项目将采取跨学科的办法。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，这允许量化与多感官信号的特定处理交互（Otto实验室）。在第二个层面上，数学建模方法然后将告知EEG记录的分析，以获得对潜在脑功能的理解（Jentzsch实验室;例如，Saunders & Jentzsch，2012）。

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).