A basic process in the build up of conceptual knowledge is the formation of categories by abstraction of shared features from specific sensory experiences. Here we investigate whether perceptual categories formed in the auditory modality can be transferred to the visual modality.
We trained Mongolian Gerbils in a shuttle-box to discriminate two different rates of stimulus presentation first in the auditory, and then in the visual modality using a GO/NO-GO active avoidance paradigm. For one animal group (congruent group), the contingency of stimulus rates and responses was maintained from auditory to visual training, for a second group (incongruent group) contingency was reversed.
After the modality switch, the congruent group had a higher acquisition rate of the conditioned responses than the incongruent group indicating a transfer of the rate-response contingency from auditory to visual training.
During training local field potential activity was recorded from 20 depth electrodes chronically implanted in the primary auditory and visual cortices. Directional influences between auditory and visual cortex were analyzed by the Directed Transfer Function (Kaminski & Blinowska, Biological Cybernetics, 1991). Behavioral indications for a crossmodal transfer correlated with a higher rate of occurrence of peak values of the Directed Transfer Function in the gamma frequency range.