Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Audio-visual synchrony and spatial attention enhance processing of dynamic visual stimulation independently and in parallel: a frequency-tagging study

Amra Covic, Christian Keitel, Emanuele Porcu, Erich Schröger, Matthias M Müller
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/128918
Amra Covic
1Institut für Psychologie, Universität Leipzig, Neumarkt 9-19, 04109 Leipzig, Germany
2Institut für Medizinische Psychologie und Medizinische Soziologie, Universitätsmedizin Göttingen, Georg-August-Universität, 37973 Göttingen, Germany
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Christian Keitel
3Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, 58 Hillhead Street, G12 8QB Glasgow, UK
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: christian.keitel@glasgow.ac.uk
Emanuele Porcu
4Institut für Psychologie, Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, Universitätsplatz 2 Gebäude 23, 39106 Magdeburg
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Erich Schröger
1Institut für Psychologie, Universität Leipzig, Neumarkt 9-19, 04109 Leipzig, Germany
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Matthias M Müller
1Institut für Psychologie, Universität Leipzig, Neumarkt 9-19, 04109 Leipzig, Germany
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Preview PDF
Loading

ABSTRACT

The neural processing of a visual stimulus can be facilitated by attending to its position or by a co-occurring auditory tone. Using frequency-tagging we investigated whether facilitation by spatial attention and audio-visual synchrony rely on similar neural processes. Participants attended to one of two flickering Gabor patches (14.17 and 17 Hz) located in opposite lower visual fields. Gabor patches further “pulsed” (i.e. showed smooth spatial frequency variations) at distinct rates (3.14 and 3.63 Hz). Frequency-modulating an auditory stimulus at the pulse-rate of one of the visual stimuli established audio-visual synchrony. Flicker and pulsed stimulation elicited stimulus-locked rhythmic electrophysiological brain responses that allowed tracking the neural processing of simultaneously presented stimuli. These steady-state responses (SSRs) were quantified in the spectral domain to examine visual stimulus processing under conditions of synchronous vs. asynchronous tone presentation and when respective stimulus positions were attended vs. unattended. Strikingly, unique patterns of effects on pulse- and flicker driven SSRs indicated that spatial attention and audiovisual synchrony facilitated early visual processing in parallel and via different cortical processes. We found attention effects to resemble the classical top-down gain effect facilitating both, flicker and pulse-driven SSRs. Audio-visual synchrony, in turn, only amplified synchrony-producing stimulus aspects (i.e. pulse-driven SSRs) possibly highlighting the role of temporally co-occurring sights and sounds in bottom-up multisensory integration.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted July 13, 2017.
Download PDF
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Audio-visual synchrony and spatial attention enhance processing of dynamic visual stimulation independently and in parallel: a frequency-tagging study
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Audio-visual synchrony and spatial attention enhance processing of dynamic visual stimulation independently and in parallel: a frequency-tagging study
Amra Covic, Christian Keitel, Emanuele Porcu, Erich Schröger, Matthias M Müller
bioRxiv 128918; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/128918
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Audio-visual synchrony and spatial attention enhance processing of dynamic visual stimulation independently and in parallel: a frequency-tagging study
Amra Covic, Christian Keitel, Emanuele Porcu, Erich Schröger, Matthias M Müller
bioRxiv 128918; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/128918

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Neuroscience
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (3479)
  • Biochemistry (7318)
  • Bioengineering (5296)
  • Bioinformatics (20197)
  • Biophysics (9976)
  • Cancer Biology (7703)
  • Cell Biology (11250)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (6418)
  • Ecology (9916)
  • Epidemiology (2065)
  • Evolutionary Biology (13280)
  • Genetics (9352)
  • Genomics (12554)
  • Immunology (7674)
  • Microbiology (18939)
  • Molecular Biology (7417)
  • Neuroscience (40893)
  • Paleontology (298)
  • Pathology (1226)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2126)
  • Physiology (3140)
  • Plant Biology (6838)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1270)
  • Synthetic Biology (1891)
  • Systems Biology (5296)
  • Zoology (1085)