MULTI-MODAL INTERACTIONS IN SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL PERCEPTION

描述（由申请人提供）：在真实的世界情境中，对象和事件包括多个刺激属性。它们发射或反射光，发出声音，并具有特有的质量和触觉特性。虽然神经系统最初通过专门的受体转导有限的能量部分来独立地处理每种感觉模态，但这些信息最终在神经系统的更高位置组合以产生统一的感知。尽管这是感觉系统的一个基本过程，但人们对来自不同感觉系统的信息如何组合以及这种整合如何导致对单个物体和事件的感知知之甚少。探索多感觉整合过程的一种方法是比较单个神经元对组合感觉刺激产生的感知的反应。通过比较物理刺激和由此产生的感知之间的神经元反应，人们可以开始阐明这种感知的潜在神经元机制。人们可以利用产生错误感知的刺激（即错觉）来进一步检验这些假设。这个研究项目的目标是探索大脑皮层中的单个神经元如何联合收割机结合视觉和听觉信息。具体来说，我们希望确定多感官刺激是否在传统上被认为是“单峰”的大脑皮层区域进行处理，或者多感官整合是否直到传统上被认为是“多模态”的区域才发生。我们将使用组合的听觉和视觉刺激，在时间和空间域中产生知觉错觉，以探索神经元对刺激的物理特征（例如感觉受体）的最佳反应，以及神经元对我们所有人所经历的感知的最佳反应。通过跟踪这些反应在整个皮层层次，我们将开始了解这些整合过程如何以及在哪里发生。这些见解将为理解复杂的感知和认知能力提供基石。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In real world situations, objects and event comprise multiple stimulus attributes. They emit or reflect light, make sounds, and have characteristic mass and tactile properties. While the nervous system initially processes each sensory modality independently by transducing a restricted portion of energy by specialized receptors, this information is ultimately combined at higher stations of the nervous system to generate unified percepts. Even though this is a fundamental process of sensory systems, very little is understood how information from different sensory systems is combined, and how this integrations results in the perception of single objects and events. One way in which the processes of multi-sensory integration can be explored is to compare the responses of single neurons to the perceptions generated by combined sensory stimuli. By comparing the neuronal responses between the physical stimuli and the resulting perceptions, one can begin to elucidate the underlying neuronal mechanisms of that perception. One can further test these hypotheses by taking advantage of stimuli that generate faulty perceptions, i.e. illusions. The goals of this research project are to explore how single neurons in the cerebral cortex combine visual and auditory information. Specifically, we wish to determine if multi-sensory stimuli are processed in regions of the cerebral cortex that are traditionally considered to be 'unimodal', or if multi-sensory integration does not occur until the traditionally considered 'multi-modal' areas. We will use combined auditory and visual stimuli that generate perceptual illusions in both the temporal and spatial domain to explore where neurons respond best to the physical characteristics of the stimuli (such as in the sensory receptors) and where neurons respond best to the resulting perceptions that we all experience. By tracking these responses throughout the cortical hierarchy we will begin to understand how and where these integrative processes take place. These insights will provide a cornerstone for understanding complex perceptions and cognitive ability.