Texture segmentation and Williams syndrome 2 Abstract Williams syndrome (WS) is a developmental disorder in which visuo-spatial cognition is poor relative to verbal ability. At the level of visuo-spatial perception, individuals with WS can perceive both the local and global aspects of an image. However, the manner in which local elements are integrated into a global whole is atypical, with rela...

Maintenance of the bodily self relies on the accurate integration of multisensory inputs in which visuo-vestibular cue integration is thought to play an essential role. Here, we tested in healthy volunteers how conflicting visuo-vestibular bodily input might impact on body self-coherence in a full body illusion set-up. Natural passive vestibular stimulation was provided on a motion platform, wh...

We tested whether processes that evoke agency interpretations and mental state attributions also lead to adoption of the actor’s visuo-spatial perspective in the observer. Agency and mental state interpretations were manipulated by showing different film clips involving two triangles (the Frith-Happé animations). Participants made speeded spatial decisions while watching these films. The respon...

OBJECTIVE Variation in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) val(158)met polymorphism has been associated with executive cognition and working memory, presumably mediated by the prefrontal cortex. Here, we extend these observations by examining two measures of cognitive function, lapses in attention and visuo-spatial-motor speed of processing, in both the drug-free state and after administrat...

The ability to pursue moving objects with the eyes is vital to humans. However, it remains unclear how the brain differentiates visual object motion, smooth pursuit eye movements (SPEM), and eye movement-induced relative motion on the retina and where visual-to-oculomotor transformation takes place. To characterize functional differences of SPEM-processing cortical areas, we simultaneously meas...

Many studies have investigated the evidence for tactile and visual interactive responses to activation of various brain regions. However, few studies have reported on the effects of visuo-tactile multisensory integration on the amount of brain activation on the somatosensory cortical regions. The aim of this study was to examine whether coincidental information obtained by tactile stimulation c...

Human infants begin very early in life to take advantage of multisensory information by extracting the invariant amodal information that is conveyed redundantly by multiple senses. Here we addressed the question as to whether infants can bind multisensory moving stimuli, and whether this occurs even if the motion produced by the stimuli is only illusory. Three- to 4-month-old infants were prese...

Discrimination of proprioceptive and visual spatial information is a prerequisite for the learning of visuo-motor transformations. This study investigated the individual's capability to discriminate the directions of seen cursor motions and felt hand movements under a visuo-motor rotation paradigm and its age-related variation. Young and older participants performed 3-stroke arm movements on a ...

Several affective and cognitive processes have been found to be pivotal in affecting aesthetic experience of artworks and both neuropsychological as well as psychiatric symptoms have been found to affect artistic production. However, there is a paucity of studies directly investigating effects of brain lesions on aesthetic judgment. Here, we assessed the effects of unilateral brain damage on ae...

The present study was designed to investigate the brain functional architecture that subserves visuo-spatial and motor processing in highly skilled individuals. By using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we measured brain activity while eleven Formula racing-car drivers and eleven 'naïve' volunteers performed a motor reaction and a visuo-spatial task. Tasks were set at a relatively ...