title: Multisensory integration: flexible use of general operations.
abstract: Research into the anatomical substrates and "principles" for integrating inputs from separate sensory surfaces has yielded divergent findings. This suggests that multisensory integration is flexible and context dependent and underlines the need for dynamically adaptive neuronal integration mechanisms. We propose that flexible multisensory integration can be explained by a combination of canonical, population-level integrative operations, such as oscillatory phase resetting and divisive normalization. These canonical operations subsume multisensory integration into a fundamental set of principles as to how the brain integrates all sorts of information, and they are being used proactively and adaptively. We illustrate this proposition by unifying recent findings from different research themes such as timing, behavioral goal, and experience-related differences in integration.
authors.affiliation: Neuroimaging & Neuromodeling group, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Meibergdreef 47, 1105 BA Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Educational Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology & Education and Institute LEARN!, VU University Amsterdam, van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology & Neuroscience, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: n.m.van.atteveldt@vu.nl.
authors.forename: Nienke
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: van Atteveldt
authors.affiliation: The Laboratory for Investigative Neurophysiology (the LINE), Neuropsychology and Neurorehabilitation Service and Radiodiagnostic Service, University Hospital Center and University of Lausanne, Avenue Pierre Decker 5, 1011 Lausanne, Switzerland; EEG Brain Mapping Core, Centre for Biomedical Imaging (CIBM), Rue du Bugnon 46, 1011 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Micah M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, 58 Hillhead Street, Glasgow, G12 8QB, UK.
authors.forename: Gregor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Thut
authors.affiliation: Columbia University, Department Psychiatry, and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10032, USA; Nathan S. Kline Institute, Cognitive Neuroscience & Schizophrenia Program, 140 Old Orangeburg Road, Orangeburg, NY 10962, USA. Electronic address: cs2388@columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Charles E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Schroeder
mesh_terms: D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D006801:Humans; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D012677:Sensation / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*