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Abstract:
Our ability to identify or recognize visual objects is often enhanced by evidence provided by other
sensory modalities. Yet, where and how visual object processing benefits from the information
received by the other senses remains unclear. One candidate region is the temporal lobe, which
features neural representations of visual objects, and in which previous studies have provided
evidence for multisensory influences on neural responses. In the present study we directly tested
whether visual representations in the lower bank of the superior temporal sulcus (STS) benefit from
acoustic information. To this end, we recorded neural responses in alert monkeys passively watching
audioamp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;8208;visual scenes, and quantified the impact of simultaneously presented sounds on responses
elicited by the presentation of naturalistic visual scenes. Using methods of stimulus decoding and
information theory, we then asked whether the responses of STS neurons become more reliable and
informative in multisensory contexts. Our results demonstrate that STS neurons are indeed sensitive
to the modality composition of the sensory stimulus and show that both response timing and
amplitude are affected by simultaneously presented sounds. Importantly, information provided by
STS neurons responses about the particular visual stimulus being presented was highest during
congruent audioamp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;8208;visual and unimodal visual stimulation, but was reduced during incongruent
bimodal stimulation. Together, these findings demonstrate that higher visual representations in the
STS not only convey information about the visual input but depend on and reflect also the
information acquired by other sensory modalities.
