JN Watch the video to learn how APS reaches out to developing nations.
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

J Neurophysiol 97: 921-926, 2007. First published August 16, 2006; doi:10.1152/jn.00497.2006
0022-3077/07 $8.00
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
97/1/921    most recent
00497.2006v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (12)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wallace, M. T.
Right arrow Articles by Stein, B. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Wallace, M. T.
Right arrow Articles by Stein, B. E.

REPORT

Early Experience Determines How the Senses Will Interact

Mark T. Wallace and Barry E. Stein

Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Submitted 10 May 2006; accepted in final form 10 August 2006

Multisensory integration refers to the process by which the brain synthesizes information from different senses to enhance sensitivity to external events. In the present experiments, animals were reared in an altered sensory environment in which visual and auditory stimuli were temporally coupled but originated from different locations. Neurons in the superior colliculus developed a seemingly anomalous form of multisensory integration in which spatially disparate visual-auditory stimuli were integrated in the same way that neurons in normally reared animals integrated visual-auditory stimuli from the same location. The data suggest that the principles governing multisensory integration are highly plastic and that there is no a priori spatial relationship between stimuli from different senses that is required for their integration. Rather, these principles appear to be established early in life based on the specific features of an animal's environment to best adapt it to deal with that environment later in life.

Present address and address for reprint requests and other correspondence: M. T. Wallace, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, Dept. of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, 465 21st Ave. S., Nashville, TN 37232 (E-mail: mark.wallace{at}vanderbilt.edu)




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Phil Trans R Soc BHome page
A. J King
Visual influences on auditory spatial learning
Phil Trans R Soc B, February 12, 2009; 364(1515): 331 - 339.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
B. N. Carriere, D. W. Royal, T. J. Perrault, S. P. Morrison, J. W. Vaughan, B. E. Stein, and M. T. Wallace
Visual Deprivation Alters the Development of Cortical Multisensory Integration
J Neurophysiol, November 1, 2007; 98(5): 2858 - 2867.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
B. Roder, A. Kusmierek, C. Spence, and T. Schicke
Developmental vision determines the reference frame for the multisensory control of action
PNAS, March 13, 2007; 104(11): 4753 - 4758.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
A. J. King
Coordinating Different Sensory Inputs During Development. Focus on "Early Experience Determines How the Senses Will Interact"
J Neurophysiol, January 1, 2007; 97(1): 3 - 4.
[Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Visit Other APS Journals Online
Copyright © 2007 by the The American Physiological Society.