THE “CONTINUUM HYPOTHESIS:� DIFFERENT PATTERNS OF MULTISENSORY CONVERGENCE GENERATE A RANGE OF MULTISENSORY NEURONS

Brian L Allman, Leslie P Keniston, M. Alex Meredith
Poster
Time: 2009-06-29  11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Last modified: 2009-06-04

Abstract


Traditionally, neuronal studies of multisensory processing are conducted first by selecting overtly multisensory (e.g., bimodal, trimodal) neurons and then testing them. This paradigm risks overlooking multisensory neurons that lack overt multisensory properties. Therefore, the present study examined, without selection bias, neurons in several cortical areas for their responses to separate (e.g., visual, auditory, somatosensory) and combined-modality (e.g., visual and auditory, auditory and somatosensory, etc.) stimulation. As expected, traditional bimodal forms of multisensory neurons were identified. In addition, however, many neurons that were activated only by one modality of stimulation (i.e., unimodal) had that response modulated by the presence of an auditory stimulus. Some unimodal neurons showed multisensory responses that were statistically different from their response to an effective unimodal stimulus. Other unimodal neurons had subtle multisensory effects that were detectable only at the population level. These results expand the range of multisensory convergence patterns beyond that of the classical bimodal neuron. However, rather than characterize a separate class of multisensory neurons, unimodal multisensory neurons may actually represent an intermediary form of multisensory convergence that exists along the functional continuum between unisensory neurons, at one end, and fully bimodal neurons at the other.

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