Visual Experience Is Necessary for the Development of Multisensory Integration

By Mark T. Wallace, Thomas J. Perrault, W. Hairston, Barry E. Stein. 2004

193 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Multisensory neurons and their ability to integrate multisensory cues develop gradually in the midbrain [i.e., superior colliculus (SC)]. To examine the possibility that early sensory experiences might play a critical role in these maturational processes, animals were raised in the absence of visual cues. As adults, the SC of these animals were found to contain many multisensory neurons, the large majority of which were visually responsive. Although these neurons responded robustly to each of their cross-modal inputs when presented individually, they were incapable of synthesizing this information. These observations suggest that visual experiences are critical for the SC to develop the ability to integrate multisensory information and lead to the prediction that, in the absence of such experience, animals will be compromised in their sensitivity to cross-modal events.

Subfields: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Nutrition and Dietetics, Sensory Systems

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Citations in the corpus

Plasticity of multisensory dorsal stream functions: Evidence from congenitally blind and sighted adults (2010, background): “Recent findings in animals (Wallace et al., 2004; Carriere et al., 2007) and humans (Röder et al.”
Early experience determines how the senses will interact. (2007, background): “First, receptive fields were often so large that they approximated those seen in neonatal and dark-reared animals (Stein et al. 1973; Wallace and Stein 1997; Wallace et al. 2004).”
Incorporating Cross-Modal Statistics in the Development and Maintenance of Multisensory Integration (2012, background): “…animals in darkness disrupts this process in neurons responsive to multiple modalities; for example, although exposure to visual stimuli is not required for neurons to become visually responsive or visual– auditory, these neurons are not capable of multisensory integration (Wallace et al., 2004).”
The Construct of the Multisensory Temporal Binding Window and its Dysregulation in Developmental Disabilities (2014, background): “Animal model studies have shown that multisensory neurons and their associated integrative properties mature over a protracted period of developmental life that extends well into “adolescence” (Wallace & Stein, 1997; Wallace, McHaffie, & Stein, 1997; Wallace, 2004a, 2004b; Wallace et al., 2006).”
Infants deploy selective attention to the mouth of a talking face when learning speech (2012, background): “For example, developing animals and humans who are deprived of early visual input exhibit neural and behavioral deficits in multisensory integration (36, 37).”
The Development of Cortical Multisensory Integration (2006, background): “Furthermore, it appears to exercise this coordination late in the period during which cross-modal experiences critical for multisensory integration are acquired (Wallace et al., 2004b; Wallace and Stein, 2006).”
Early visual deprivation affects the development of face recognition and of audio-visual speech perception (2010, background): “Animal and human studies suggest that the development of multisensory integration functions depends on adequate sensory experience (Carlson et al., 1987; Carriere et al., 2007; Hyvärinen et al., 1981; Wallace et al., 2004).”