title: A distributed cortical representation underlies crossmodal object recognition in rats.
abstract: The mechanisms by which the brain integrates the unimodal sensory features of an object into a comprehensive multimodal object representation are poorly understood. We have recently developed a procedure for assessing crossmodal object recognition (CMOR) and object feature binding in rats using a modification of the spontaneous object recognition (SOR) paradigm. Here we show for the first time that rats are capable of spontaneous crossmodal object recognition when they are asked to recognize a visually presented object having previously only explored the tactile features of that object. Moreover, rats with bilateral perirhinal cortex (PRh) lesions were impaired on the CMOR task and a visual-only, but not a tactile-only, version of SOR. Conversely, rats with bilateral posterior parietal cortex (PPC) lesions were impaired on the CMOR and tactile-only tasks but not the visual-only task. Finally, crossmodal object recognition ability was severely and selectively impaired in rats with unilateral lesions made to PRh and PPC in opposite hemispheres. Thus, spontaneous tactile-to-visual crossmodal object recognition in rats relies on an object representation that requires functional interaction between PRh and PPC, which appear to mediate the visual and tactile information-processing demands of the task, respectively. These results imply that, at least under certain conditions, the separate sensory features of an object are represented in a distributed manner in the cortex. The novel paradigm introduced here should be a valuable tool for further study of the neurobiological bases of crossmodal cognition and object feature binding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada. bwinters@uoguelph.ca
authors.forename: Boyer D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Winters
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Reid
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology*
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