Integration of auditory and visual information about objects in superior temporal sulcus

Michael S. Beauchamp*, Kathryn E. Lee, Brenna D. Argall, Alex Martin

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

600 Scopus citations

Abstract

Two categories of objects in the environment - animals and man-made manipulable objects (tools) - are easily recognized by either their auditory or visual features. Although these features differ across modalities, the brain integrates them into a coherent percept. In three separate fMRI experiments, posterior superior temporal sulcus and middle temporal gyrus (pSTS/MTG) fulfilled objective criteria for an integration site. pSTS/MTG showed signal increases in response to either auditory or visual stimuli and responded more to auditory or visual objects than to meaningless (but complex) control stimuli. pSTS/MTG showed an enhanced response when auditory and visual object features were presented together, relative to presentation in a single modality. Finally, pSTS/MTG responded more to object identification than to other components of the behavioral task. We suggest that pSTS/MTG is specialized for integrating different types of information both within modalities (e.g., visual form, visual motion) and across modalities (auditory and visual).

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)809-823
Number of pages15
JournalNeuron
Volume41
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 4 2004

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience

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