The role of brain lateralization and interhemispheric transfer for a multisensory reference frame of action control
Holger Cramer, Brigitte Röder, Cordula Becker
Poster
Last modified: 2008-05-13
Abstract
Multisensory information seems to be localized in a common external or eye-centered reference frame, possibly facilitating actions towards a perceived stimulus. There is evidence that the use of an external reference frame for multisensory localization requires an intact corpus callosum. We hypothesized that a highly efficient communication between the two hemispheres might be accompanied by a more efficient transformation of modality specific coordinates into external coordinates. We tested a group of sighted adults in the Banich Belger task, which requires stimulus matching within and across hemispheres. This task allows an estimation of interhemispheric transfer times, which we expect to correlate with the relative size of the crossing hands impairment in a Simon task performed by the same participants. Moreover, the cerebral asymmetries of each participant were assessed using a dichotic listening, a word recognition and figure recognition task and correlated with the crossing hands deficit of the same participants.