Touching sounds: thalamocortical plasticity and the neural basis of multisensory integration.
To date, noninvasive neuroimaging research on multisensory perception has focused on cortical activations. In a series of elegant functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments, Beauchamp and Ro recently investigated altered cortical activations associated with acquired sound-touch synesthesia resulting from a thalamic lesion. Their findings highlight the important role of intact thalamocortical projections for preventing illusory crossmodal perception and for underlying reliable multisensory integration.
Naumer
Marcus J
MJ
Institute of Medical Psychology, Frankfurt Medical School, Goethe-University, Heinrich-Hoffmann-Strasse 10, D-60528 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. M.J.Naumer@med.uni-frankfurt.de
van den Bosch
Jasper J F
JJ
D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D013016:Sound; D013788:Thalamus / Q000502:physiology*; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology*