title: Sound alters visual evoked potentials in humans.
abstract: When a single flash is accompanied by two auditory beeps, the single flash is perceived as two flashes. We investigated whether this crossmodal influence on visual perception occurs at the level of the modality-specific visual pathway or later. We compared the visual evoked potentials (VEPs) in the presence and absence of sound. Activity was modulated extensively and with short latency in trials in which an illusory flash was perceived. In addition, the brain potentials for the illusory flash were qualitatively very similar to those for a physical flash, suggesting that the same mechanism underlies the percept of both illusory and physical flashes. These results suggest that the activity in the visual cortex can be modulated by sound. This implication challenges the general belief that the visual cortical processing is independent of other modalities.
authors.affiliation: California Institute of Technology, Division of Biology BI 139-74, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shams
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kamitani
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shimojo
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*