Integration of auditory and visual information about objects in superior temporal sulcus.
Two categories of objects in the environment-animals and man-made manipulable objects (tools)-are easily recognized by either their auditory or visual features. Although these features differ across modalities, the brain integrates them into a coherent percept. In three separate fMRI experiments, posterior superior temporal sulcus and middle temporal gyrus (pSTS/MTG) fulfilled objective criteria for an integration site. pSTS/MTG showed signal increases in response to either auditory or visual stimuli and responded more to auditory or visual objects than to meaningless (but complex) control stimuli. pSTS/MTG showed an enhanced response when auditory and visual object features were presented together, relative to presentation in a single modality. Finally, pSTS/MTG responded more to object identification than to other components of the behavioral task. We suggest that pSTS/MTG is specialized for integrating different types of information both within modalities (e.g., visual form, visual motion) and across modalities (auditory and visual).
Beauchamp
Michael S
MS
Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA. mbeauchamp@nih.gov
Lee
Kathryn E
KE
Argall
Brenna D
BD
Martin
Alex
A
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology