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Abstract:
Aim: This study aimed to investigate time-dependent
modulation in neural response when auditory and visual stimuli are
paired.
Methods Twenty-four healthy volunteers performed an incidental
associative task while being scanned with functional magnetic
resonance imaging. Twelve of these subjects received a task
containing audiovisual pairs and single control stimuli; the other
twelve received a task containing visuoauditory pairs and single
control stimuli. They were subsequently debriefed for awareness of
the contingencies.
Results Our results suggest that visual areas (in striate -V1-
and extrastriate -V4- cortices) can respond to an auditory stimulus
specifically when subjects become aware that a sound is predictive
of a specific colour. We also found that auditory cortex
bilaterally (right superior temporal gyrus -BA21/22- and left
transverse temporal gyrus -BA41) can respond to visual stimuli when
they become predictive of a sound.
Conclusion These findings highlight the possibility that brain
regions, which are traditionally found to respond exclusively to
information in one sensory modality, can, if appropriately primed,
respond also to stimuli in other sensory modalities.
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