Abstract
At any given moment, we receive multiple signals from our different senses. Prior research has shown that signals in one sensory modality can influence neural activity and behavioural performance associated with another sensory modality. Recent human and nonhuman primate studies suggest that such cross-modal influences in sensory cortices are mediated by the synchronisation of ongoing neural oscillations. In this review, we consider two mechanisms proposed to facilitate cross-modal influences on sensory processing, namely cross-modal phase resetting and neural entrainment. We consider how top-down processes may further influence cross-modal processing in a flexible manner, and we highlight fruitful directions for further research.
Highlights
Electrophysiological studies suggest that cross-modal influences in sensory cortices are mediated by the synchronisation of neural oscillations through phaseresetting and neural entrainment mechanisms
According to the standard understanding of perceptual systems, processing of incoming sensory information evolves from the extraction of simple features in these highly specialised primary cortical structures through progressively more integrated representations in unimodal and multimodal associative regions [3]. Outputs from these loosely hierarchical sensory networks converge in multisensory and higher order cortical regions, in particular the superior temporal sulcus (STS), intraparietal sulcus (IPS), and prefrontal cortical regions (PFC) [4,5]
We have considered evidence suggesting that synchronisation of neural oscillations has a vital role in facilitating the transfer and integration of sensory information across modalities
Summary
We receive multiple signals from our different senses. Prior research has shown that signals in one sensory modality can influence neural activity and behavioural performance associated with another sensory modality. Recent human and nonhuman primate studies suggest that such cross-modal influences in sensory cortices are mediated by the synchronisation of ongoing neural oscillations. Several studies have shown that behavioural performance across various tasks and in different sensory modalities fluctuates according to the phase of ongoing neural oscillations (for a review, see [16]). The benefits of synchronising neural processing by transient events may bring similar benefits to cross-modal influences In this case, a single salient or attended external (or internal) stimulus can ‘set’ the phase of a neural oscillation to a particular state of excitability within another sensory modality [24].
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