Auditory-driven phase reset in visual cortex: Human electrocorticography reveals mechanisms of early multisensory integration

Findings in animal models demonstrate that activity within hierarchically early sensory cortical regions can be modulated by cross-sensory inputs through resetting of the phase of ongoing intrinsic neural oscillations. Here, subdural recordings evaluated whether phase resetting by auditory inputs would impact multisensory integration processes in human visual cortex. Results clearly showed auditory-driven phase reset in visual cortices and, in some cases, frank auditory event-related potentials (ERP) were also observed over these regions. Further, when audiovisual bisensory stimuli were presented, this led to robust multisensory integration effects which were observed in both the ERP and in measures of phase concentration. These results extend findings from animal models to human visual cortices, and highlight the impact of cross-sensory phase resetting by a non-primary stimulus on multisensory integration in ostensibly unisensory cortices.