title: The informativity of sound modulates crossmodal facilitation of visual discrimination: a fMRI study.
abstract: Many studies have investigated behavioral crossmodal facilitation when a visual stimulus is accompanied by a concurrent task-irrelevant sound. Lippert and colleagues reported that a concurrent task-irrelevant sound reduced the uncertainty of the timing of the visual display and improved perceptional responses (informative sound). However, the neural mechanism by which the informativity of sound affected crossmodal facilitation of visual discrimination remained unclear. In this study, we used event-related functional MRI to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the role of informativity of sound in crossmodal facilitation of visual discrimination. Significantly faster reaction times were observed when there was an informative relationship between auditory and visual stimuli. The functional MRI results showed sound informativity-induced activation enhancement including the left fusiform gyrus and the right lateral occipital complex. Further correlation analysis showed that the right lateral occipital complex was significantly correlated with the behavioral benefit in reaction times. This suggests that this region was modulated by the informative relationship within audiovisual stimuli that was learnt during the experiment, resulting in late-stage multisensory integration and enhanced behavioral responses.
authors.affiliation: aDepartment of Computer Science and Technology, School of Computer Science and Technology, Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun bDepartment of Radiology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang cDepartment of Biomedical Instrumentation, School of Biomedical Engineering, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hongtao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Xiujun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hongzan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Jingjing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Chunlin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time; D013016:Sound; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen