Sounds automatically produce conscious visual and auditory experiences in auditory-visual synesthesia. Direct auditory-visual percepts may play a functional role in multisensory processing, which may give rise to synesthesia-like illusion or illusory flash. The illusion occurs predominantly in peripheral vision, and is accompanied by electrical activity over occipital sites (Oz, O1, and O2) (Shams et al., 2001). The cross-modal transfer hypothesis assumes that connections between auditory and visual regions are indirect and are mediated by multisensory audiovisual brain regions (Goller et al., 2009). Multisensory processes may be activated when two senses are stimulated or by a unimodal stimulus such as synesthesia (Goller et al., 2009). This …show more content…
These differences lie in deflections of the auditory-evoked potential (e.g., the auditory N1, P2, and N2) rather than the presence of an additional posterior deflection (Goller et al., 2009). The results suggest that differences between synesthetes and others occur early in time, and that synesthesia is qualitatively different from similar effects found in infants and certain auditory-induced visual illusions in adults (Goller et al., 2009). There was no evidence that auditory stimuli caused a distinct multisensory ERP deflection in synesthetes (Goller et al., 2009). Therefore, this data do not strongly support the idea of cross- model transfer in this type of synesthesia. However, the article propose that there could be anomalous cross-activation between adjacent regions of auditory cortex and regions in the superior temporal guys/ sulcus that are implicated in audiovisual perception. It is important to consider that traditionally defined unimodal auditory areas can sometimes respond to nonauditory events, and it is possible that neurons respond to unimodal auditory stimuli (Goller et al., 2009). Therefore, such neurons that lie in or around the cortical auditory pathways, may
The next speaker, Dr. Gottlieb investigated the hearing aspect of our senses. He investigated the interaction between our heari...
In this essay I outline Casey O’Callaghan’s liberal view of multimodality. I suggest that our current understanding does not justify such an extensive view on the multimodality of the senses, and I critique his stance on the prevalence of crossmodal interactions between the senses as an over interpretation of the current experimental data. I argue for a more conservative account of crossmodal interactions between the senses, and hypothesize that perception is best described in terms of distributions. To support this hypothesis, I provide evidence in the form of Jonathan Cohen’s account of synesthesia.
The merging of certain senses points to a crossing of signals in the brain. Although the theory is an old one, it has come to the forefront of the scientific researcher's minds, with increased focus on the topic.
Processing capacity is a very broad and flexible category according to many researchers. In fact, the quote above mentioned suggests that we often fail to notice things that happen just in front of us (unexpected events that are often salient) either because we were completely absorbed by something else or because we had so many things to do at the same time that we couldn’t pay attention to it. We have all at least once failed to see a friend who was waving at us while eating in the cafeteria or walking in a crowded street. The primary question that we should ask ourselves is: how many things can we attend at the same time? The truth is that we didn’t perceive this friend because of a phenomenon called “inattentional blindness”. The problem is that the richness of our visual experience leads us to believe that our visual representation will include and preserve the same amount of detail (Levin et al 2000). In this paper we’ll see the different theories of inattentional blindness, and the classical theories demonstrating this paradigm.
The occurrence of synaesthesia in the adult population has been estimated between 1 in 2,000 and 1 in 25,000. There has been evidence that women are more likely to have it, with around six times more females than males. Findings state there can be a genetic predisposition transmitted by an X-linked autosomal dominant gene. Through the more recent studies of synaesthesia they have researched a possible biological cause instead of damage to the brain. One of the propositions is the connectivity between brain areas that help to further the relevant sensory modalities. For example, color-phonemic synaesthesia might result from additional synaptic connections between brain regions that are responsible for processing auditory inputs and those involved in color perception.
Kanske, P., Heissler, J., Schönfelder, S., Forneck, J., & Wessa, M. (2013). Neural correlates of
Brain Stem Reflexes refer to a process where an emotion is induced by sound or music because the fundamental acoustical characteristics of the sound or music are received by the brain stem which signals a potentially urgent and important event. Sounds that are sudden, dissonant, loud, or have fast temporal patterns induce arousal or feelings of unpleasantness in the listener (Berlyne 1971; Burt et al. 1995; Foss et al. 1989; Halpern et al. 1986). These responses show the impact of auditory sensations (music as sound in the most basic sense). Our perceptual system is continually scanning the immediate surro...
Imagine a world where numbers, letters, tastes, and sounds have color. Imagine a world where letters and numbers have personalities. For a synesthete, this is their world. Synesthesia occurs from a cross wiring in the brain. Instead of one sense being used in a particular action, multiple senses are used. Although little medical knowledge is known about the condition, it is fascinating and continues to impact our world.
First let’s look at what happens when you hear music. Here is a diagram that shows and explains what happens when you listen to music. Outer ea...
McDonald, J., Teder-Salejarvi, W, & Hillyard, S. (2000). Involuntary orienting to sound improves visual perception. Nature, 407, 906-907.
This paper aims to endorse physicalism over dualism by means of Smart’s concept of identity theory. Smart’s article Sensations and the Brain provides a strong argument for identity theory and accounts for many of it primary objections. Here I plan to first discuss the main arguments for physicalism over dualism, then more specific arguments for identity theory, and finish with further criticisms of identity theory.
M.M. Merzenich, J. K. (1983). Topographical reorganization of somatosensory cortial areas 3b and 1 in adult monkeys following restrictive deafferentation. Neuroscience, 33-55.
With each of our senses (sight, smell, touch, taste, and hear), information is transmitted to the brain. Psychologists find it problematic to explain the processes in which the physical energy that is received by the sense organs can form the foundation of perceptual experience. Perception is not a direct mirroring of stimulus, but a compound messy pattern dependent on the simultaneous activity of neurons. Sensory inputs are somehow converted into perceptions of laptops, music, flowers, food, and cars; into sights, sounds, smells, taste ...
Sensation refers to the process of sensing what is around us in our environment by using our five senses, which are touching, smell, taste, sound and sight. Sensation occurs when one or more of the various sense organs received a stimulus. By receiving the stimulus, it will cause a mental or physical response. It starts in the sensory receptor, which are specialized cells that convert the stimulus to an electric impulse which makes it ready for the brain to use this information and this is the passive process. After this process, the perception comes into play of the active process. Perception is the process that selects the information, organize it and interpret that information.
Visual perception and visual sensation are both interactive processes, although there is a significant difference between the two processes. Sensation is defined as the stimulation of sense organs Visual sensation is a physiological process which means that it is the same for everyone. We absorb energy such as electro magnetic energy (light) or sound waves by sensory organs such as eyes. This energy is then transduced into electro chemical energy by the cones and rods (receptor cells) in the retina. There are four main stages of sensation. Sensation involves detection of stimuli incoming from the surrounding world, registering of the stimulus by the receptor cells, transduction or changing of the stimulus energy to an electric nerve impulse, and then finally the transmission of that electrical impulse into the brain. Our brain then perceives what the information is. Hence perception is defined as the selection, organisation and interpretation of that sensory input.