Introduction

Much is now understood about the neural mechanisms that underlie the learning of visual object representations in the primate. We propose that within this context, it is possible to reevaluate previous work on the mechanisms of multisensory processes in primates. We also consider the importance of cross-modal memory in episodic and semantic memory, which necessarily comprise components from different sensory modalities.

Early work in the area of cross-modal memory in nonhuman primates implicated the amygdala as crucial for forming cross-modal associations, but more recent evidence indicates that the rhinal cortex (the entorhinal and perirhinal cortices), in particular the perirhinal cortex, is critically involved in the formation of a multimodal representation of an object as a whole. In this chapter we review recent advances in the area of cross-modal memory formation in primates, then propose a likely mechanism for the encoding of cross-modal memories.