Scientists from the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Tübingen, the University of Bielefeld, the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics and the University of Oxford have made a research that is to be released in the Current Biology journal.
The research illustrated about the correlation between the sensory signals’ temporal structures developed by the humans in order to decide which of those are to be segregated and integrated to form a better imaging of our surroundings.
An experimental set-up for researching on sensory signal correlation
The multisensory signals originating from the identical distal event are often similar in its kind. The temporal structures of a visual and auditory event, e.g. during fireworks, an object bouncing and falling on the floor or a person’s footstep moving down the street, will always correlate together as we often assume an unseen unity between our auditory and visual interpretations. The similarity of several unisensory signals’ temporal structures will ensure a potentially strong cue for the brain to infer a common cause existing between those signals.
Cesare Parise from the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience and Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen with his colleagues determines the purpose of signal correlation in the multisensory combination by requesting people, who are presented with various sounds and pictures from variety of spatial locations, to locate flashes and beeps. During integrated audiovisual trials, the temporal structures of the auditory and visual stimuli are either correlated or not. The spatial position of correlated stimuli is reported by moving a graphic tablet controlled cursor. The research shows comparably increased precision with the correlated audio/visual streams than the isolated streams. These results shows that humans will integrate several sensory signals only when they correlate in specific time, thereby demonstrating that the human brain will employ the statistical correlation among the signals to determine their common cause.
The scientists stated that the brain is capable of integrating potentially related signals from various senses so that it can effectively identify its way through the noisy surroundings in its day to day life.