Multisensory Interplay Reveals Crossmodal Influences on ‘Sensory-Specific’ Brain Regions, Neural Responses, and Judgments

Although much traditional sensory research has studied each sensory modality in isolation, there has been a recent explosion of interest in causal interplay between different senses. Various techniques have now identified numerous multisensory convergence zones in the brain. Some convergence may arise surprisingly close to low-level sensory-specific cortex, and some direct connections may exist even between primary sensory cortices. A variety of multisensory phenomena have now been reported in which sensory-specific brain responses and perceptual judgments concerning one sense can be affected by relations with other senses. We survey recent progress in this multisensory field, foregrounding human studies…

• DF
  Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
• MR
  Medical Research Council