Multisensory Integration Tool and Use Flashcards
What is the definition of a visual
receptive field?
A cell’s receptive field is the area of the
visual field (or visual space) where light
modifies the cell’s response
What is the definition of an auditory
receptive field?
A cell’s receptive field is the area of space
where sound modifies the cell’s response
What is the definition of an
somatosensory receptive field?
A cell’s receptive field is the area of the
body surface where touch modifies the
cell’s response
What is multisensory integration?
Combination either behaviourally, or at a neural
level, inputs from more than one sense:
Audiovisual integration
Audiotactile integration
In what way might multisensory
integration be useful?
Recognition:
Audiovisual speech – cocktail party phenomena
Visual guidance of actions
Guiding body parts to interact with objects
Where in the brain does multisensory
integration occur?
Sub-cortically: Superior Colliculus,
Putamen
Cortically: Association areas e.g: Superior
Temporal Sulcus, Inferior Parietal Cortex,
Superior Parietal Cortex Ventro-lateral
Pre-motor Cortex, Insular etc.
What is the visuotactile
interference paradigm?
A method used to study how visual stimuli affect tactile perception near the body, revealing how the brain integrates sensory information.
What senses are involved in the visuotactile interference paradigm?
Vision and touch (tactile sense).
What is peripersonal space?
The space immediately surrounding the body, where multisensory integration is especially strong.
What did Pavani et al. (2000) find using the visuotactile interference paradigm?
That visual stimuli near the hands can interfere with tactile discrimination, suggesting a shared spatial representation.
How does tool use affect visuotactile interference according to Maravita et al. (2003)?
After using a tool, visual stimuli near the tool’s end can affect tactile perception as if they were near the hand—suggesting the body schema has extended.
What did Spence et al. (2001) show about visuotactile interactions?
That these interactions are body-centered, meaning they depend on the location relative to the body rather than just visual location on a screen.
Why is the visuotactile interference paradigm important?
t helps us understand multisensory integration, body representation, and how the brain adapts when tools are used.
what happens when Ps arms are crossed in the paradigm ?
It creates a conflict between anatomical and spatial locations, leading to slower or less accurate tactile responses due to disrupted multisensory integration.
How did Maravita et al (2002) modify the
visuotactile interference paradigm?
They introduced tool use, showing that after using a tool, visuotactile interference shifted to the tool’s end—indicating that the brain extended peripersonal space to include the tool.
What are Maravita et al.’s principal
findings?
Tool use extends peripersonal space.
After using a tool (e.g., a grabber), participants’ brains begin to treat the space near the end of the tool as if it’s part of the body’s immediate space.
Visuotactile interference shifts after tool use.
Visual distractors near the tool tip (not just the hand) start interfering with tactile processing—suggesting that the body schema (the brain’s representation of the body) now includes the tool.
Multisensory integration is flexible.
The way the brain combines visual and tactile information can be rapidly reorganized by experience, such as tool use.
The body schema adapts to external objects.
The brain treats tools not just as objects being held, but as temporary extensions of the body, integrating them into its spatial and sensory systems.
