title: Visuotactile motion congruence enhances gamma-band activity in visual and somatosensory cortices.
abstract: When touching and viewing a moving surface our visual and somatosensory systems receive congruent spatiotemporal input. Behavioral studies have shown that motion congruence facilitates interplay between visual and tactile stimuli, but the neural mechanisms underlying this interplay are not well understood. Neural oscillations play a role in motion processing and multisensory integration. They may also be crucial for visuotactile motion processing. In this electroencephalography study, we applied linear beamforming to examine the impact of visuotactile motion congruence on beta and gamma band activity (GBA) in visual and somatosensory cortices. Visual and tactile inputs comprised of gratings that moved either in the same or different directions. Participants performed a target detection task that was unrelated to motion congruence. While there were no effects in the beta band (13-21Hz), the power of GBA (50-80Hz) in visual and somatosensory cortices was larger for congruent compared with incongruent motion stimuli. This suggests enhanced bottom-up multisensory processing when visual and tactile gratings moved in the same direction. Supporting its behavioral relevance, GBA was correlated with shorter reaction times in the target detection task. We conclude that motion congruence plays an important role for the integrative processing of visuotactile stimuli in sensory cortices, as reflected by oscillatory responses in the gamma band.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, St. Hedwig Hospital, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krebber
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, St. Hedwig Hospital, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Harwood
authors.affiliation: Neurocomputation and Neuroimaging Unit, Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Spitzer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, St. Hedwig Hospital, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Keil
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, St. Hedwig Hospital, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: daniel.senkowski@charite.de.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Senkowski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D065818:Gamma Rhythm; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D055698:Touch Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Bottom-up; EEG; Multisensory; Oscillations; Virtual electrodes