The Neural Bases of Multisensory Processes

It has become accepted in the neuroscience community that perception and performance are quintessentially multisensory by nature. Using the full palette of modern brain imaging and neuroscience methods, this volume details current understanding in the neural bases for these phenomena as studied across species, stages of development, and clinical statuses.Topics discussed include anatomy, neurophysiological bases and how multisensory stimuli can dramatically change the encoding processes for sensory information, combinatorial principles and modeling, development and plasticity, clinical manifestations, how perception and action are affected by altered sensory experience, and attention and spatial representations.

It has become accepted in the neuroscience community that perception and performance are quintessentially multisensory by nature. Using the full palette of modern brain imaging and neuroscience methods, The Neural Bases of Multisensory Processes details current understanding in the neural bases for these phenomena as studied across species, stages of development, and clinical statuses.

Organized thematically into nine sub-sections, the book is a collection of contributions by leading scientists in the field. Chapters build generally from basic to applied, allowing readers to ascertain how fundamental science informs the clinical and applied sciences.

Topics discussed include:

• Anatomy, essential for understanding the neural substrates of multisensory processing
• Neurophysiological bases and how multisensory stimuli can dramatically change the encoding processes for sensory information
• Combinatorial principles and modeling, focusing on efforts to gain a better mechanistic handle on multisensory operations and their network dynamics
• Development and plasticity
• Clinical manifestations and how perception and action are affected by altered sensory experience
• Attention and spatial representations

The last sections of the book focus on naturalistic multisensory processes in three separate contexts: motion signals, multisensory contributions to the perception and generation of communication signals, and how the perception of flavor is generated. The text provides a solid introduction for newcomers and a strong overview of the current state of the field for experts.