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).
Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20892 USA. mbeauchamp@nih.gov
Michael S
MS
Beauchamp
Kathryn E
KE
Lee
Brenna D
BD
Argall
Alex
A
Martin
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