Ears, eyes and bodies: audiovisual processing of biological motion cues
Poster Presentation

Anna Brooks
Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

Biljana Petreska
Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

Aude Billard
Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

Lucas Spierer
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois

Stephanie Clark
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois

Ricky van der Zwan
Southern Cross University

Olaf Blanke
Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

     Abstract ID Number: 63
     Full text: Not available
     Last modified: March 18, 2005

Abstract
In recent years, research into inter-sensory and in particular visual/auditory relationships has intensified. Interest has at least in part been fuelled by neurophysiological evidence of facilitatory cross-modal relationships at the sub-cortical level; some cells only exhibit a strong non-linear or ‘super-additive’ response to stimuli presented in the audiovisual domain (King et al 1987). At the behavioural level, however, evidence regarding the nature of this cross-modal relationship is mixed. Data suggest facilitatory interactions observed sub-cortically are preserved at relatively low levels of audiovisual processing (eg Frens et al 1995). In contrast, higher-order tasks appear not to benefit from a facilitatory relationship; at least two reports indicate that presentations in the audiovisual domain do not enhance performance in detecting coherent global motion (Meyer et al 2001; Alais et al 2004). For various reasons the generalisability of these latter data is, however, limited. Consequently, effects of inter-sensory relationships on many tasks requiring ‘higher-order’ perceptual processing require clarification. Here, we address this issue in relation to the task of detecting biological motion. Using a new psychophysical technique, thresholds were established for auditory and visual stimuli moving in congruent and conflicting directions. Data are discussed in relation to their implications for the neural mechanisms underlying biological motion perception.