Our brains are charged with the monumental task of combining information across multiple sensory systems into a coherent picture of our world. Because we rarely process a single sense in isolation, any realistic neural model of perception must address how the brain combines sensory information on a moment-to-moment basis. Of particular importance to human communication and the focus of this proposal are the neural underpinnings of audiovisual interactions. Despite the prevalence and importance of vision in human communication, little is known about how the brain uses visual information to constrain or even change what we hear. For instance, visual spatial information is extremely precise and tends to dominate relatively imprecise auditory spatial estimates, giving rise to the ventriloquist's illusion. Here, we propose two complementary studies that use the ventriloquist's illusion as a tool to determine how changes in interregional communication (Experiment 1) and temporal precision of neural activity (Experiment 2) relate to vision's influence over where we perceive sounds in space.

Public Health Relevance

The proposed project addresses how the human brain uses visual information to refine or constrain where we perceive an auditory object's location to be. The findings will have a direct impact on current models of human speech perception and existing models of audiovisual integration in humans.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31)
Project #
1F31DC011429-01
Application #
8059753
Study Section
Communication Disorders Review Committee (CDRC)
Program Officer
Cyr, Janet
Project Start
2010-09-01
Project End
2012-08-31
Budget Start
2010-09-01
Budget End
2011-08-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$35,434
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California Davis
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
047120084
City
Davis
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
95618
Bishop, Christopher W; Yadav, Deepak; London, Sam et al. (2014) The effects of preceding lead-alone and lag-alone click trains on the buildup of echo suppression. J Acoust Soc Am 136:803-17
London, Sam; Bishop, Christopher W; Miller, Lee M (2012) Spatial attention modulates the precedence effect. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 38:1371-9
Campbell, Tom; Kerlin, Jess R; Bishop, Christopher W et al. (2012) Methods to eliminate stimulus transduction artifact from insert earphones during electroencephalography. Ear Hear 33:144-50
Bishop, Christopher W; London, Sam; Miller, Lee M (2012) Neural time course of visually enhanced echo suppression. J Neurophysiol 108:1869-83
Bishop, Christopher W; London, Sam; Miller, Lee M (2011) Visual influences on echo suppression. Curr Biol 21:221-5
Bishop, Christopher W; Miller, Lee M (2011) Speech cues contribute to audiovisual spatial integration. PLoS One 6:e24016
Hill, Kevin T; Bishop, Christopher W; Yadav, Deepak et al. (2011) Pattern of BOLD signal in auditory cortex relates acoustic response to perceptual streaming. BMC Neurosci 12:85