Auditory-somatosensory multisensory processing in auditory association cortex: An fMRI study

John J. Foxe, Glenn R. Wylie, Antigona Martinez, Charles E. Schroeder, Daniel C. Javitt, David Guilfoyle, Walter Ritter, Micah M. Murray

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

132 Scopus citations

Abstract

Using high-field (3 Tesla) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we demonstrate that auditory and somatosensory inputs converge in a subregion of human auditory cortex along the superior temporal gyrus. Further, simultaneous stimulation in both sensory modalities resulted in activity exceeding that predicted by summing the responses to the unisensory inputs, thereby showing multisensory integration in this convergence region. Recently, intracranial recordings in macaque monkeys have shown similar auditory-somatosensory convergence in a subregion of auditory cortex directly caudomedial to primary auditory cortex (area CM). The multisensory region identified in the present investigation may be the human homologue of CM. Our finding of auditory-somatosensory convergence in early auditory cortices contributes to mounting evidence for multisensory integration early in the cortical processing hierarchy, in brain regions that were previously assumed to be unisensory.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)540-543
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of neurophysiology
Volume88
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2002

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neuroscience(all)
  • Physiology

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