Multisensory Gains in Simple Detection Predict Global Cognition in Schoolchildren

Solange Denervaud,Pawel J Matusz,Micah M Murray,Edouard Gentaz

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-58329-4

Abstract

The capacity to integrate information from different senses is central for coherent perception across the lifespan from infancy onwards. Later in life, multisensory processes are related to cognitive functions, such as speech or social communication. During learning, multisensory processes can in fact enhance subsequent recognition memory for unisensory objects. These benefits can even be predicted; adults’ recognition memory performance is shaped by earlier responses in the same task to multisensory – but not unisensory – information. Everyday environments where learning occurs, such as classrooms, are inherently multisensory in nature. Multisensory processes may therefore scaffold healthy cognitive development. Here, we provide the first evidence of a predictive relationship between multisensory benefits in simple detection and higher-level cognition that is present already in schoolchildren. Multiple regression analyses indicated that the extent to which a child (N = 68; aged 4.5–15years) exhibited multisensory benefits on a simple detection task not only predicted benefits on a continuous recognition task involving naturalistic objects (p = 0.009), even when controlling for age, but also the same relative multisensory benefit also predicted working memory scores (p = 0.023) and fluid intelligence scores (p = 0.033) as measured using age-standardised test batteries. By contrast, gains in unisensory detection did not show significant prediction of any of the above global cognition measures. Our findings show that low-level multisensory processes predict higher-order memory and cognition already during childhood, even if still subject to ongoing maturation. These results call for revision of traditional models of cognitive development (and likely also education) to account for the role of multisensory processing, while also opening exciting opportunities to facilitate early learning through multisensory programs. More generally, these data suggest that a simple detection task could provide direct insights into the integrity of global cognition in schoolchildren and could be further developed as a readily-implemented and cost-effective screening tool for neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly in cases when standard neuropsychological tests are infeasible or unavailable.

Highlights

When a child wishes to cross the street, looking left and right for incoming cars is not always sufficient to make a safe choice
Mean detection rates were 93.1%, 95.1%, and 96.5% for the visual, auditory, and multisensory conditions, respectively. These data were submitted to a one-way repeated-measures analysis of covariance variance (ANCOVA), with Condition as the within-subjects factor and Age as the co-variate (Greenhouse-Geisser corrected degrees of freedom are reported in cases of violation of assumptions of sphericity)
We investigated the relationship between multisensory gain in a simple detection task and global cognitive measures such as memory, working memory and fluid intelligence

Summary

Introduction

When a child wishes to cross the street, looking left and right for incoming cars is not always sufficient to make a safe choice. Longitudinal studies have linked cross-modal pattern matching in infants with their later reading abilities, such as in the seminal work of Birch and Belmont[17,18,19] in 220 elementary (5–12 years old) scholars. These authors found incidental learning to be improved by multisensory cues[23], and that retention of category learning over a 24‐hour delay to be significantly higher for multisensory cues than unisensory ones in 5–10 year-old schoolchildren[24] This is consistent with literature in adults reporting evidence for links between processes subserving multisensory integration on the one hand and cognitive functions, including recognition memory, on the other hand. While there is evidence that children (and, later, adults) garner benefits from multisensory contexts when performing memory tasks, the links between benefits of multisensory information during stimulus processing and measures of intelligence remain to be firmly established. Though, that there was no evidence for a systematic correlation between measures of multisensory facilitation and IQ scores (there were positive correlations between IQ and unisensory RTs27,32; a pattern somewhat at odds with the notion of IQ being coupled with processing speed or with facilitation under multisensory conditions)

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