Multisensory Research最新文献

Despite constantly performing actions with their hands, healthy individuals display distorted hand representations. These distortions have been found in a body representation called 'the body model', which plays a fundamental role in position sense. There is a growing number of studies showing that changes in this representation may optimize performance in certain skills (e.g., magicians, baseball players). This has led to the hypothesis that the distortions may facilitate our actions. One highly trained group of individuals that rely on an accurate position sense about the fingers, are piano players. However, musicians have yet to be studied in the body model task. Therefore, we recruited a group of expert piano players (average practice time 12.85 h/week, average years playing 16.22 ± 3.6) and an age- and sex-matched control group. We hypothesized that piano players would have more accurate hand representation, as precise finger location knowledge is essential for skilled piano performance. Our results showed that piano players were significantly more accurate at estimating hand width compared to the controls; in fact, their estimates of this measure were not different than their physical size. This supports our hypothesis and suggests that the need for more accurate localization of the fingertips when playing may result in a more accurate estimate of hand width in the body model task. There was, however, no difference between the groups for finger length, as both piano and control groups significantly underestimated this measure. This result may reflect the typical position of the hands while playing piano, as the fingers are kept curved to aid proper technique. Taken together, our results support the hypothesis that distortions may in fact facilitate our actions.

The short version of the Visually Induced Motion Sickness Susceptibility Questionnaires (VIMSSQ-short) was designed to estimate an individual's susceptibility to motion sickness caused by exposure to visual motion, for instance when using smartphones, simulators, or Virtual Reality. The goal of the present paper was to establish normative data of the VIMSSQ-short for men and women based on online surveys and to compare these results with findings from previously published work. VIMSSQ-short data from 920 participants were collected across four online surveys. In addition, the relationship with other relevant constructs such as susceptibilities to classic motion sickness (via the Motion Sickness Susceptibility Questionnaires (MSSQ)), Migraine, Dizziness, and Syncope, was explored. Normative data for the VIMSSQ-short showed a mean score of M = 7.2 (standard deviation (SD) = 4.2) and a median of 7, with a good test reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.80). No significant difference between men and women showed. The VIMSSQ-short correlated significantly with the MSSQ ( r = 0.55), Migraine ( r = 0.48), Dizziness ( r = 0.35), and Syncope ( r = 0.31). Exploratory factor analysis of all variables suggested two latent variables: nausea-related and oculomotor-related. Norms for this study were consistent with the only other large online survey. But average VIMSSQ-short values were lower in smaller studies of participants volunteering for cybersickness experiments, perhaps reflecting self-selection bias. The VIMSSQ-short provides reliability with efficient compromise between length and validity. It can be used alone or with other questionnaires, the most useful being the MSSQ and the Migraine Screening Questionnaire.

Traditionally, systems neuroscience has focused on singular sensory systems operating in near isolation, ignoring the complexity of the brain's inherent ability to integrate multiple sensory modalities in a symphony of signals that creates our perception of the world around us. The Merging of the Senses has been integral in fueling the exponential growth of the multisensory field, though there are still a wealth of discoveries to be made. Here, we highlight the naked mole-rat as an animal model for an understudied body region that may reveal robust multisensory influences: the teeth. We propose neural and behavioral experiments for evaluating the multisensory underpinnings related to the teeth and how a multisensory perspective can be used to assess plasticity following tooth loss.

We introduce how 'the rule of thumb' of multisensory integration, which was proposed in the seminal book The Merging of the Senses by Stein and Meredith in 1993, inspired the empirical research work conducted at Multisensory lab, Peking University (China) for the last 15 years. We also outline the potential research trends in the multisensory research field.

Several studies have investigated the influence of auditory and visual sensory modalities on the variability and perceived duration of brief time intervals. However, few studies have investigated this influence when the two intervals to be discriminated share the same stimulus, and none of these have included the tactile modality. The aim of the present study was to investigate, in multimodal conditions, the capability to discriminate two adjacent intervals, using an equisection and adjustment method. Participants had to adjust the second of three brief successive signals marking two empty intervals until they were subjectively perceived as equal. The experiment included nine modality conditions and intervals between Markers 1 and 3 lasted 0.5, 1, 1.5, or 2 s (four standard conditions). The results show that the adjustment is better (lower variability) with three auditory (A) than with three visual (V) or tactile (T) markers, and these three conditions are better than when Marker 2 differs from Markers 1 and 3 (all intermodal conditions). Differences also emerged in the perceived duration of intermodal conditions. In TVT and VTV conditions, intervals marked by a tactile-visual (TV) sequence are perceived as longer than VT intervals, and in AVA and VAV conditions AV intervals are perceived as longer than VA intervals. Finally, AT intervals are perceived as longer than TA intervals, but only in the short standard conditions. In addition to replicating the classical variability increase when short intermodal intervals are used, the study shows the influence on perceived duration of the speed of processing of a visual signal.

Smartphone use has been examined in a variety of contexts, including their influence on sustained attention. Most importantly, notifications received while completing the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) have led to deficits in sustained attention performance. The present study re-examined this phenomenon by differentiating audio and visual notifications, to examine their individual influence. It was hypothesized that trials that notifications were received would result in slower reaction times across both notification types. Data were collected using the SART in both the fixed and random conditions. Visual pop-up notifications were sent for half the trials, while auditory cues were sent for the other half. Results were in accordance with previous findings, demonstrating an overall effect on sustained attention performance. Furthermore, visual notifications led to more errors than the auditory condition.

When picking up objects, we prefer stable grips with minimal torque by seeking grasp points that straddle the object's centre of mass (CoM). For homogeneous objects, the CoM is at the geometric centre (GC), computable from shape cues. However, everyday objects often include components of different materials and densities. In this case, the CoM depends on the object's geometry and the components' densities. We asked how participants estimate the CoM of novel, two-part objects. Across four experiments, participants used a precision grip to lift cylindrical objects comprised of steel and PVC in varying proportions (steel three times denser than PVC). In all experiments, initial grasps were close to objects' GCs; neither every-day experience (metals are denser than PVC) nor pre-exposure to the stimulus materials in isolation moved first grasps away from the GC. Within a few trials, however, grasps shifted towards the CoM, reducing but not eliminating torque. Learning transferred across the stimulus set, that is, observers learnt the materials' densities (or their ratio) rather than learning each object's CoM. In addition, there was a stable 'under-reaching' bias towards the grasping hand. An 'inverted density' stimulus set (PVC 3 × denser than steel) induced similarly fast learning, confirming that prior knowledge of materials has little effect on grasp point selection. When stimulus sets were covertly switched during an experiment, the unexpected force feedback caused even faster grasp adaptation. Torque minimisation is a strong driver of grasp point adaptation, but there is a surprising lack of transfer following pre-exposure to relevant materials.

People infer the taste of products based on semantic knowledge (e.g., associations with the category and brand elements). They also link shape features with certain taste qualities through inherent associations commonly referred to as crossmodal correspondences. This research examined how shape features influence the evaluation of familiar and unfamiliar products, and thus varying levels of semantic knowledge. Participants evaluated the expected taste, familiarity, liking, and willingness to purchase products with curved and angular logos presented with sweet, bitter, and neutral characteristics, as well as unfamiliar products. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that the curved logos were preferred and associated with greater sweetness, while the angular logos were less preferred and associated with bitterness. However, in Experiment 2, these differences disappeared when the logos were presented with packages of familiar (sweet, bitter, and neutral) and unfamiliar products. In Experiment 3, the expected tastes for the logos were more pronounced when they were framed as representing new or unfamiliar products than sweet and bitter familiar products. The difference in expected sweetness between curved and angular logos was greater for new or unfamiliar products than for familiar sweet products, and the same pattern was found for expected bitterness. Together, these results suggest that feature-based expectations of taste are absent or less pronounced when semantic knowledge about the products is greater.

In the context of the great boom in research on multisensory processes initiated with the publication of The Merging of the Senses by Stein and Meredith (1993), and the great achievements since then, we note here the recent posthumous publication of Justo Gonzalo, which is the first English translation of his original publications. He described multisensory phenomena at a functional and macroscopic physiological level in patients with unilateral parieto-occipital cortical lesions in an associative area equidistant from the visual, tactile and auditory areas. The disorder is a multisensory and bilateral alteration called 'central syndrome'. Here we focus on some aspects related to the facilitation effect, i.e., the improvement in the perception of a test stimulus with the help of another stimulus. The greater the lesion and the lower the intensity of the test stimulus, the greater the facilitation effect. One of the most effective facilitating stimuli in these patients was found to come from the motor system, such as muscular effort. The gradation observed between different cortical syndromes led Gonzalo to introduce the concept of functional cortical gradients, whose superposition would result in multisensory zones. The fact that functional behaviour in the central syndrome is considered similar to that of a normal individual, but on a reduced scale of excitability, allows scaling concepts to be applied and some generalisations to be made.