Multisensory Object Perception in the Primate Brain

It should come as no surprise to those interested in sensory processes that its research history is among the longest and richest of the many systematic efforts to understand how our bodies function. The continuing obsession with sensory systems is as much a re?ection of the fundamental need to understand how we experience the physical world as it is to understand how we become who we are based on those very experiences. The senses function as both portal and teacher, and their individual and collective properties have fascinated scientists and philosophers for millennia. In this context, the attention directed toward specifying their properties on a sense-by-sense basis that dominated sensory research in the 20th century seems a prelude to our current preoccupation with how they function in concert. Nevertheless, it was the concentrated effort on the operational principles of in- vidual senses that provided the depth of understanding necessary to inform current efforts to reveal how they act cooperatively. We know that the information provided by any individual sensory modality is not always veridical, but is subject to a myriad of modality-speci?c distortions. Thus, the brain's ability to compare across the senses and to integrate the information they provide is not only a way to examine the accuracy of any individual sensory channel but also a way to enhance the collective information they make available to the brain.

List of contents

General Introduction.- General Introduction.- Mechanisms.- Corticocortical Connectivity Subserving Different Forms of Multisensory Convergence.- Computational Modeling of Multisensory Object Perception.- Methodological Considerations: Electrophysiology of Multisensory Interactions in Humans.- Cortical Oscillations and Multisensory Interactions in Humans.- Multisensory Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging.- Audio-Visual Integration.- Audiovisual Temporal Integration for Complex Speech, Object-Action, Animal Call, and Musical Stimuli.- Imaging Cross-Modal Influences in Auditory Cortex.- The Default Mode of Primate Vocal Communication and Its Neural Correlates.- Audio-Visual Perception of Everyday Natural Objects - Hemodynamic Studies in Humans.- Single-Trial Multisensory Learning and Memory Retrieval.- Visuo-Tactile Integration.- Multisensory Texture Perception.- Dorsal and Ventral Cortical Pathways for Visuo-haptic Shape Integration Revealed Using fMRI.- Visuo-haptic Perception of Objects and Scenes.- Haptic Face Processing and Its Relation to Vision.- Plasticity.- The Ontogeny of Human Multisensory Object Perception: A Constructivist Account.- Neural Development and Plasticity of Multisensory Representations.- Large-Scale Brain Plasticity Following Blindness and the Use of Sensory Substitution Devices.

Summary

It should come as no surprise to those interested in sensory processes that its research history is among the longest and richest of the many systematic efforts to understand how our bodies function. The continuing obsession with sensory systems is as much a re?ection of the fundamental need to understand how we experience the physical world as it is to understand how we become who we are based on those very experiences. The senses function as both portal and teacher, and their individual and collective properties have fascinated scientists and philosophers for millennia. In this context, the attention directed toward specifying their properties on a sense-by-sense basis that dominated sensory research in the 20th century seems a prelude to our current preoccupation with how they function in concert. Nevertheless, it was the concentrated effort on the operational principles of in- vidual senses that provided the depth of understanding necessary to inform current efforts to reveal how they act cooperatively. We know that the information provided by any individual sensory modality is not always veridical, but is subject to a myriad of modality-speci?c distortions. Thus, the brain’s ability to compare across the senses and to integrate the information they provide is not only a way to examine the accuracy of any individual sensory channel but also a way to enhance the collective information they make available to the brain.

Additional text

From the book reviews:
“This is an excellent study of auditory and visual processing in synchrony or at least close to ideal concurrent operations in the cerebral cortex of the monkey and human brains. … Anyone who does research in auditory, visual, decision making processes, speech, and vocalization will benefit greatly from this marvelous book. Neurophysiologists and primatologists should be very interested in this work.” (Joseph J. Grenier, Amazon.com, August, 2014)
“In this work for academic researchers and graduate students, international contributors from major laboratories explain the mechanisms of multisensory integration, with a focus on the visual, auditory, and tactile sensory modalities. They present evidence from studies of humans and nonhuman primates using various modalities including intracranial electrophysiological recording, noninvasive electroencephalography, functional magnetic resonance imaging, and computational modeling. … The book is illustrated with b&w and color images.” (SciTech Book News, December, 2010)

Report

From the book reviews:
"This is an excellent study of auditory and visual processing in synchrony or at least close to ideal concurrent operations in the cerebral cortex of the monkey and human brains. ... Anyone who does research in auditory, visual, decision making processes, speech, and vocalization will benefit greatly from this marvelous book. Neurophysiologists and primatologists should be very interested in this work." (Joseph J. Grenier, Amazon.com, August, 2014)
"In this work for academic researchers and graduate students, international contributors from major laboratories explain the mechanisms of multisensory integration, with a focus on the visual, auditory, and tactile sensory modalities. They present evidence from studies of humans and nonhuman primates using various modalities including intracranial electrophysiological recording, noninvasive electroencephalography, functional magnetic resonance imaging, and computational modeling. ... The book is illustrated with b&w and color images." (SciTech Book News, December, 2010)

Product details

• Assisted by: Marcu Johannes Naumer (Editor), Marcus Johannes Naumer (Editor), Kaiser (Editor), Kaiser (Editor), Jochen Kaiser (Editor), Marcus Johannes Naumer (Editor)
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.01.2010
• EAN: 9781489982063
• ISBN: 978-1-4899-8206-3
• No. of pages: 383
• Dimensions: 157 mm x 236 mm x 19 mm
• Weight: 605 g
• Illustrations: XI, 383 p.
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Psychology > Theoretical psychology; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Medicine > Clinical medicine; B, Neuroscience, Cognition & cognitive psychology, Neurosciences, cognitive psychology, Biomedical and Life Sciences, Zoology, Neurobiology, Action;cortex;learning;perception;physiology;primates