Multisensory Integration Across the Senses in Young and Old Adults

Overview

Journal Brain Res

Specialty Neurology

Date 2011 Oct 26

PMID 22024545

Citations 54

Authors

Jeannette R Mahoney

Po Ching Clara Li

Mooyeon Oh-Park

Joe Verghese

Roee Holtzer

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Stimuli are processed concurrently and across multiple sensory inputs. Here we directly compared the effect of multisensory integration (MSI) on reaction time across three paired sensory inputs in eighteen young (M=19.17 years) and eighteen old (M=76.44 years) individuals. Participants were determined to be non-demented and without any medical or psychiatric conditions that would affect their performance. Participants responded to randomly presented unisensory (auditory, visual, somatosensory) stimuli and three paired sensory inputs consisting of auditory-somatosensory (AS) auditory-visual (AV) and visual-somatosensory (VS) stimuli. Results revealed that reaction time (RT) to all multisensory pairings was significantly faster than those elicited to the constituent unisensory conditions across age groups; findings that could not be accounted for by simple probability summation. Both young and old participants responded the fastest to multisensory pairings containing somatosensory input. Compared to younger adults, older adults demonstrated a significantly greater RT benefit when processing concurrent VS information. In terms of co-activation, older adults demonstrated a significant increase in the magnitude of visual-somatosensory co-activation (i.e., multisensory integration), while younger adults demonstrated a significant increase in the magnitude of auditory-visual and auditory-somatosensory co-activation. This study provides first evidence in support of the facilitative effect of pairing somatosensory with visual stimuli in older adults.

Citing Articles

A drift diffusion model analysis of age-related impact on multisensory decision-making processes.

Bolam J, Diaz J, Andrews M, Coats R, Philiastides M, Astill S Sci Rep. 2024; 14(1):14895.

PMID: 38942761 PMC: 11213863. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-65549-5.

Linking Dementia Pathology and Alteration in Brain Activation to Complex Daily Functional Decline During the Preclinical Dementia Stages: Protocol for a Prospective Observational Cohort Study.

De Sanctis P, Mahoney J, Wagner J, Blumen H, Mowrey W, Ayers E JMIR Res Protoc. 2024; 13:e56726.

PMID: 38842914 PMC: 11190628. DOI: 10.2196/56726.

Multisensory integration augmenting motor processes among older adults.

Zou Z, Zhao B, Ting K, Wong C, Hou X, Chan C Front Aging Neurosci. 2024; 15:1293479.

PMID: 38192281 PMC: 10773807. DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2023.1293479.

Sex Differences in Low-Level Multisensory Integration in Developmental Dyslexia.

Glica A, Wasilewska K, Kossowski B, Zygierewicz J, Jednorog K J Neurosci. 2023; 44(3).

PMID: 38050156 PMC: 10860626. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0944-23.2023.

Virtual reality as a tool to explore multisensory processing before and after engagement in physical activity.

Basharat A, Mehrabi S, Munoz J, Middleton L, Cao S, Boger J Front Aging Neurosci. 2023; 15:1207651.

PMID: 38020766 PMC: 10652573. DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2023.1207651.

References

Camicioli R, Panzer V, Kaye J . Balance in the healthy elderly: posturography and clinical assessment. Arch Neurol. 1997; 54(8):976-81. DOI: 10.1001/archneur.1997.00550200040008. View

Meredith M, Stein B . Spatial determinants of multisensory integration in cat superior colliculus neurons. J Neurophysiol. 1996; 75(5):1843-57. DOI: 10.1152/jn.1996.75.5.1843. View

Erber N . Auditory, visual, and auditory-visual recognition of consonants by children with normal and impaired hearing. J Speech Hear Res. 1972; 15(2):413-22. DOI: 10.1044/jshr.1502.413. View

Yesavage J, Brink T, Rose T, Lum O, Huang V, Adey M . Development and validation of a geriatric depression screening scale: a preliminary report. J Psychiatr Res. 1982; 17(1):37-49. DOI: 10.1016/0022-3956(82)90033-4. View

Diederich A, Colonius H . Bimodal and trimodal multisensory enhancement: effects of stimulus onset and intensity on reaction time. Percept Psychophys. 2005; 66(8):1388-404. DOI: 10.3758/bf03195006. View

Cabeza R . Hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults: the HAROLD model. Psychol Aging. 2002; 17(1):85-100. DOI: 10.1037//0882-7974.17.1.85. View

Murray M, Molholm S, Michel C, Heslenfeld D, Ritter W, Javitt D . Grabbing your ear: rapid auditory-somatosensory multisensory interactions in low-level sensory cortices are not constrained by stimulus alignment. Cereb Cortex. 2004; 15(7):963-74. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhh197. View

Stern Y, Moeller J, Anderson K, Luber B, Zubin N, DiMauro A . Different brain networks mediate task performance in normal aging and AD: defining compensation. Neurology. 2000; 55(9):1291-7. DOI: 10.1212/wnl.55.9.1291. View

Yordanova J, Kolev V, Hohnsbein J, Falkenstein M . Sensorimotor slowing with ageing is mediated by a functional dysregulation of motor-generation processes: evidence from high-resolution event-related potentials. Brain. 2003; 127(Pt 2):351-62. DOI: 10.1093/brain/awh042. View

10.

Spence C, Santangelo V . Capturing spatial attention with multisensory cues: a review. Hear Res. 2009; 258(1-2):134-42. DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2009.04.015. View

11.

Stein B, Wallace M . Comparisons of cross-modality integration in midbrain and cortex. Prog Brain Res. 1996; 112:289-99. DOI: 10.1016/s0079-6123(08)63336-1. View

12.

Folstein M, Folstein S, McHugh P . "Mini-mental state". A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. J Psychiatr Res. 1975; 12(3):189-98. DOI: 10.1016/0022-3956(75)90026-6. View

13.

Knight R, Staines W, Swick D, Chao L . Prefrontal cortex regulates inhibition and excitation in distributed neural networks. Acta Psychol (Amst). 1999; 101(2-3):159-78. DOI: 10.1016/s0001-6918(99)00004-9. View

14.

Foxe J, Schroeder C . The case for feedforward multisensory convergence during early cortical processing. Neuroreport. 2005; 16(5):419-23. DOI: 10.1097/00001756-200504040-00001. View

15.

Teder-Salejarvi W, McDonald J, Di Russo F, Hillyard S . An analysis of audio-visual crossmodal integration by means of event-related potential (ERP) recordings. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2002; 14(1):106-14. DOI: 10.1016/s0926-6410(02)00065-4. View

16.

Stein B, Kruger L . Superior colliculus: visuotopic-somatotopic overlap. Science. 1975; 189(4198):224-6. DOI: 10.1126/science.1094540. View

17.

Strupp M, Arbusow V, Borges Pereira C, Dieterich M, Brandt T . Subjective straight-ahead during neck muscle vibration: effects of ageing. Neuroreport. 1999; 10(15):3191-4. DOI: 10.1097/00001756-199910190-00012. View

18.

Gondan M, Lange K, Rosler F, Roder B . The redundant target effect is affected by modality switch costs. Psychon Bull Rev. 2004; 11(2):307-13. DOI: 10.3758/bf03196575. View

19.

Cabeza R, Anderson N, Locantore J, McIntosh A . Aging gracefully: compensatory brain activity in high-performing older adults. Neuroimage. 2002; 17(3):1394-402. DOI: 10.1006/nimg.2002.1280. View

20.

VENTRY I, Weinstein B . Identification of elderly people with hearing problems. ASHA. 1983; 25(7):37-42. View