Integration of Auditory and Visual Information about Objects in Superior Temporal Sulcus

Two categories of objects in the environment—animals and man-made manipulable objects (tools)—are easily recognized by either their auditory or visual features. Although these features differ across modalities, the brain integrates them into a coherent percept. In three separate fMRI experiments, po...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuron (Cambridge, Mass.) Mass.), 2004-03, Vol.41 (5), p.809-823
Main Authors: Beauchamp, Michael S, Lee, Kathryn E, Argall, Brenna D, Martin, Alex
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic Stimulation - methods
Analysis of Variance
Auditory Perception - physiology
Brain
Cerebral Cortex - physiology
Experiments
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods
Medical imaging
Photic Stimulation - methods
Software
Temporal Lobe - physiology
Time series
Visual Perception - physiology
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Summary:Two categories of objects in the environment—animals and man-made manipulable objects (tools)—are easily recognized by either their auditory or visual features. Although these features differ across modalities, the brain integrates them into a coherent percept. In three separate fMRI experiments, posterior superior temporal sulcus and middle temporal gyrus (pSTS/MTG) fulfilled objective criteria for an integration site. pSTS/MTG showed signal increases in response to either auditory or visual stimuli and responded more to auditory or visual objects than to meaningless (but complex) control stimuli. pSTS/MTG showed an enhanced response when auditory and visual object features were presented together, relative to presentation in a single modality. Finally, pSTS/MTG responded more to object identification than to other components of the behavioral task. We suggest that pSTS/MTG is specialized for integrating different types of information both within modalities (e.g., visual form, visual motion) and across modalities (auditory and visual).
ISSN:0896-6273
1097-4199
DOI:10.1016/S0896-6273(04)00070-4