Crossmodal inhibition and enhancement in trimodal multisensory integration
نویسندگان
چکیده
Any instant of conscious perception is shaped by the differential contributions of all of our sensory organs. Complementary information in distinct sensory streams can be exploited by crossmodal integration. The principles that govern these integrative processes are not yet completely understood. The traditional bimodal nature of multisensory research hampers the exploration of the complex interactions of stimulus-driven and attention-related influences on multisensory integration. For this study, a novel trimodal amplitude-matching paradigm including vision, audition and somatosensation was developed in order to investigate multisensory mechanisms in the presence of perceptual competition. We report overall differences in bimodal integration efficiency, congruence enhancement for all bimodal targets and, most crucially, an inverse relation between overall integration efficiency and the magnitude of congruence enhancement. Furthermore, congruence enhancement between unattended/attended pairs determined the impact of distraction. Our results suggest the existence of multiple distinct mechanisms of inhibition and enhancement in multisensory integration.
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