Movement Sonification: Motion perception, behavioral effects and functional data

The sonification of human movement data is a new approach to support motor perception, motor control and learning in sports and rehabilitation. Perceptual and motor control mechanisms both benefit of additional acoustic information, both are performing more accurate compared to unimodal conditions. But how does movement sonification work when supporting perception and action especially when processing together with visual information? What kind of perceptual mechanisms are addressed by movement vision and which are activated by additional movement acoustics? While visual motion perception is attended with reference to the approach of 'biological motion perception' in this paper, audio-visual phenomena are treated on the basis of 'multisensory integration'-research. Multisensory integration-research on speech perception as well as on basic perceptual phenomena had identified audiovisual integration sites in the CNS. The activation of multisensory integrationareas correlates with enhanced perceptual as well as behavioral performance. Here we proof this correlation for the sonification of human movement pattern with a first fMRI-study. Data support behavioral effects of movement sonification on perception and action in a first step.