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Subcortical, modality-specific pathways contribute to multisensory processing in humans

(2014) CEREBRAL CORTEX. 24(8). p.2169-2177
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Abstract
Oftentimes, we perceive our environment by integrating information across multiple senses. Recent studies suggest that such integration occurs at much earlier processing stages than once thought possible, including in thalamic nuclei and putatively unisensory cortical brain regions. Here, we used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and an audiovisual integration task to test the hypothesis that anatomical connections between sensory-related subcortical structures and sensory cortical areas govern multisensory processing in humans. Twenty-five subjects (mean age 22 years, 22 females) participated in the study. In line with our hypothesis, we show that estimated strength of white-matter connections between the first relay station in the auditory processing stream (the cochlear nucleus), the auditory thalamus, and primary auditory cortex predicted one's ability to combine auditory and visual information in a visual search task. This finding supports a growing body of work that indicates that subcortical sensory pathways do not only feed forward unisensory information to the cortex, and suggests that anatomical brain connectivity contributes to multisensory processing ability in humans.
Keywords
SENSORY CORTICES, AUDITORY THALAMUS, INTEGRATION, CORTEX, CONNECTIVITY, TRACTOGRAPHY, INFORMATION, ATTENTION, DYNAMICS, OBJECT, brain, diffusion tensor imaging, multisensory, multisensory integration, structural connectivity

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MLA
van den Brink, RL, et al. “Subcortical, Modality-Specific Pathways Contribute to Multisensory Processing in Humans.” CEREBRAL CORTEX, vol. 24, no. 8, 2014, pp. 2169–77, doi:10.1093/cercor/bht069.
APA
van den Brink, R., Cohen, M., van der Burg, E., Talsma, D., Vissers, M., & Slagter, H. (2014). Subcortical, modality-specific pathways contribute to multisensory processing in humans. CEREBRAL CORTEX, 24(8), 2169–2177. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bht069
Chicago author-date
Brink, RL van den, MX Cohen, E van der Burg, Durk Talsma, ME Vissers, and HA Slagter. 2014. “Subcortical, Modality-Specific Pathways Contribute to Multisensory Processing in Humans.” CEREBRAL CORTEX 24 (8): 2169–77. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bht069.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
van den Brink, RL, MX Cohen, E van der Burg, Durk Talsma, ME Vissers, and HA Slagter. 2014. “Subcortical, Modality-Specific Pathways Contribute to Multisensory Processing in Humans.” CEREBRAL CORTEX 24 (8): 2169–2177. doi:10.1093/cercor/bht069.
Vancouver
1.
van den Brink R, Cohen M, van der Burg E, Talsma D, Vissers M, Slagter H. Subcortical, modality-specific pathways contribute to multisensory processing in humans. CEREBRAL CORTEX. 2014;24(8):2169–77.
IEEE
[1]
R. van den Brink, M. Cohen, E. van der Burg, D. Talsma, M. Vissers, and H. Slagter, “Subcortical, modality-specific pathways contribute to multisensory processing in humans,” CEREBRAL CORTEX, vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 2169–2177, 2014.
@article{5937599,
  abstract     = {{Oftentimes, we perceive our environment by integrating information across multiple senses. Recent studies suggest that such integration occurs at much earlier processing stages than once thought possible, including in thalamic nuclei and putatively unisensory cortical brain regions. Here, we used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and an audiovisual integration task to test the hypothesis that anatomical connections between sensory-related subcortical structures and sensory cortical areas govern multisensory processing in humans. Twenty-five subjects (mean age 22 years, 22 females) participated in the study. In line with our hypothesis, we show that estimated strength of white-matter connections between the first relay station in the auditory processing stream (the cochlear nucleus), the auditory thalamus, and primary auditory cortex predicted one's ability to combine auditory and visual information in a visual search task. This finding supports a growing body of work that indicates that subcortical sensory pathways do not only feed forward unisensory information to the cortex, and suggests that anatomical brain connectivity contributes to multisensory processing ability in humans.}},
  author       = {{van den Brink, RL and Cohen, MX and van der Burg, E and Talsma, Durk and Vissers, ME and Slagter, HA}},
  issn         = {{1047-3211}},
  journal      = {{CEREBRAL CORTEX}},
  keywords     = {{SENSORY CORTICES,AUDITORY THALAMUS,INTEGRATION,CORTEX,CONNECTIVITY,TRACTOGRAPHY,INFORMATION,ATTENTION,DYNAMICS,OBJECT,brain,diffusion tensor imaging,multisensory,multisensory integration,structural connectivity}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{8}},
  pages        = {{2169--2177}},
  title        = {{Subcortical, modality-specific pathways contribute to multisensory processing in humans}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bht069}},
  volume       = {{24}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}

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