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Correlation detection as a general mechanism for multisensory integration

Author

Listed:
  • Cesare V. Parise

    (Bielefeld University
    Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics)

  • Marc O. Ernst

    (Bielefeld University
    Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics
    Applied Cognitive Psychology, Faculty for Computer Science, Engineering, and Psychology, Ulm University)

Abstract

The brain efficiently processes multisensory information by selectively combining related signals across the continuous stream of multisensory inputs. To do so, it needs to detect correlation, lag and synchrony across the senses; optimally integrate related information; and dynamically adapt to spatiotemporal conflicts across the senses. Here we show that all these aspects of multisensory perception can be jointly explained by postulating an elementary processing unit akin to the Hassenstein–Reichardt detector—a model originally developed for visual motion perception. This unit, termed the multisensory correlation detector (MCD), integrates related multisensory signals through a set of temporal filters followed by linear combination. Our model can tightly replicate human perception as measured in a series of empirical studies, both novel and previously published. MCDs provide a unified general theory of multisensory processing, which simultaneously explains a wide spectrum of phenomena with a simple, yet physiologically plausible model.

Suggested Citation

  • Cesare V. Parise & Marc O. Ernst, 2016. "Correlation detection as a general mechanism for multisensory integration," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-9, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms11543
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11543
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    Cited by:

    1. Jacques Pesnot Lerousseau & Cesare V. Parise & Marc O. Ernst & Virginie Wassenhove, 2022. "Multisensory correlation computations in the human brain identified by a time-resolved encoding model," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Renan Schiavolin Recio & André Mascioli Cravo & Raphael Yokoingawa de Camargo & Virginie van Wassenhove, 2019. "Dissociating the sequential dependency of subjective temporal order from subjective simultaneity," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(10), pages 1-10, October.

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