Hein Grit, Doehrmann Oliver, Müller Notger G, Kaiser Jochen, Muckli Lars, Naumer Marcus J
Cognitive Neurology Unit, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University, D-60528 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
J Neurosci. 2007 Jul 25;27(30):7881-7. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1740-07.2007.
The cortical integration of auditory and visual features is crucial for efficient object recognition. Previous studies have shown that audiovisual (AV) integration is affected by where and when auditory and visual features occur. However, because relatively little is known about the impact of what is integrated, we here investigated the impact of semantic congruency and object familiarity on the neural correlates of AV integration. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify regions involved in the integration of both (congruent and incongruent) familiar animal sounds and images and of arbitrary combinations of unfamiliar artificial sounds and object images. Unfamiliar object images and sounds were integrated in the inferior frontal cortex (IFC), possibly reflecting learning of novel AV associations. Integration of familiar, but semantically incongruent combinations also correlated with IFC activation and additionally involved the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS). For highly familiar semantically congruent AV pairings, we again found AV integration effects in pSTS and additionally in superior temporal gyrus. These findings demonstrate that the neural correlates of object-related AV integration reflect both semantic congruency and familiarity of the integrated sounds and images.
听觉和视觉特征的皮层整合对于高效的物体识别至关重要。先前的研究表明，视听（AV）整合受听觉和视觉特征出现的位置和时间影响。然而，由于对于整合内容的影响了解相对较少，我们在此研究了语义一致性和物体熟悉度对AV整合神经相关性的影响。我们使用功能磁共振成像来识别参与整合（一致和不一致）熟悉动物声音和图像以及不熟悉人工声音和物体图像任意组合的区域。不熟悉的物体图像和声音在额下回（IFC）中整合，这可能反映了对新型AV关联的学习。熟悉但语义不一致组合的整合也与IFC激活相关，并且还涉及后颞上沟（pSTS）。对于高度熟悉的语义一致的AV配对，我们再次在pSTS以及颞上回中发现了AV整合效应。这些发现表明，与物体相关的AV整合的神经相关性反映了整合声音和图像的语义一致性和熟悉度。
