serval:BIB_AAB57BB39C1C
Enhanced audio-tactile multisensory interaction in a peripersonal task after echolocation.
10.1007/s00221-019-05469-3
000460130100023
30617745
Tonelli
A.
author
Campus
C.
author
Serino
A.
author
Gori
M.
author
article
2019-03
Experimental brain research
1432-1106
0014-4819
journal
237
3
855-864
Peripersonal space (PPS) is created by a multisensory interaction between different sensory modalities and can be modified by experience. In this article, we investigated whether an auditory training, inside the peripersonal space area, can modify the PPS around the head in sighted participants. The auditory training was based on echolocation. We measured the participant's reaction times to a tactile stimulation on the neck, while task-irrelevant looming auditory stimuli were presented. Sounds more strongly affect tactile processing when located within a limited distance from the body. We measured spatially dependent audio-tactile interaction as a proxy of PPS representation before and after an echolocation training. We found a significant speeding effect on tactile RTs after echolocation, specifically when sounds where around the location where the echolocation task was performed. This effect could not be attributed to a task repetition effect nor to a shift of spatial attention, as no changes of PPS were found in two control groups of participants, who performed the PPS task after either a break or a temporal auditory task (with stimuli located at the same position of echolocation task). These findings show that echolocation affects multisensory processing inside PPS representation, likely to better represent the space where external stimuli, have to be localized.
Adult
Animals
Female
Humans
Male
Personal Space
Sound Localization/physiology
Space Perception/physiology
Touch Perception/physiology
Young Adult
Audio-tactile
Echolocation
Multisensory
Peripersonal space
eng
60_published
true
peer-reviewed
Publication types: Journal Article
Publication Status: ppublish
University of Lausanne
mailto:serval_help@unil.ch
http://www.unil.ch/serval
http://serval.unil.ch/disclaimer
https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_AAB57BB39C1C