Sounds enhance visual completion processes.

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State: Public
Version: Author's accepted manuscript
Serval ID
serval:BIB_AB0DC0A6C6E5
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Sounds enhance visual completion processes.
Journal
NeuroImage
Author(s)
Tivadar R.I., Retsa C., Turoman N., Matusz P.J., Murray M.M.
ISSN
1095-9572 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
1053-8119
Publication state
Published
Issued date
01/10/2018
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
179
Pages
480-488
Language
english
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Publication Status: ppublish
Abstract
Everyday vision includes the detection of stimuli, figure-ground segregation, as well as object localization and recognition. Such processes must often surmount impoverished or noisy conditions; borders are perceived despite occlusion or absent contrast gradients. These illusory contours (ICs) are an example of so-called mid-level vision, with an event-related potential (ERP) correlate at ∼100-150 ms post-stimulus onset and originating within lateral-occipital cortices (the IC <sub>effect</sub> ). Presently, visual completion processes supporting IC perception are considered exclusively visual; any influence from other sensory modalities is currently unknown. It is now well-established that multisensory processes can influence both low-level vision (e.g. detection) as well as higher-level object recognition. By contrast, it is unknown if mid-level vision exhibits multisensory benefits and, if so, through what mechanisms. We hypothesized that sounds would impact the IC <sub>effect</sub> . We recorded 128-channel ERPs from 17 healthy, sighted participants who viewed ICs or no-contour (NC) counterparts either in the presence or absence of task-irrelevant sounds. The IC <sub>effect</sub> was enhanced by sounds and resulted in the recruitment of a distinct configuration of active brain areas over the 70-170 ms post-stimulus period. IC-related source-level activity within the lateral occipital cortex (LOC), inferior parietal lobe (IPL), as well as primary visual cortex (V1) were enhanced by sounds. Moreover, the activity in these regions was correlated when sounds were present, but not when absent. Results from a control experiment, which employed amodal variants of the stimuli, suggested that sounds impact the perceived brightness of the IC rather than shape formation per se. We provide the first demonstration that multisensory processes augment mid-level vision and everyday visual completion processes, and that one of the mechanisms is brightness enhancement. These results have important implications for the design of treatments and/or visual aids for low-vision patients.
Keywords
Acoustic Stimulation, Adult, Brain/physiology, Electroencephalography, Evoked Potentials/physiology, Female, Humans, Male, Photic Stimulation, Sound, Visual Perception/physiology, Young Adult
Pubmed
Web of science
Create date
07/07/2018 11:32
Last modification date
21/11/2022 8:29
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