Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, USA.
Dev Sci. 2012 Sep;15(5):688-96. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2012.01171.x. Epub 2012 Aug 9.
We live in a world rich in sensory information, and consequently the brain is challenged with deciphering which cues from the various sensory modalities belong together. Determinations regarding the relatedness of sensory information appear to be based, at least in part, on the spatial and temporal relationships between the stimuli. Stimuli that are presented in close spatial and temporal correspondence are more likely to be associated with one another and thus 'bound' into a single perceptual entity. While there is a robust literature delineating behavioral changes in perception induced by multisensory stimuli, maturational changes in multisensory processing, particularly in the temporal realm, are poorly understood. The current study examines the developmental progression of multisensory temporal function by analyzing responses on an audiovisual simultaneity judgment task in 6- to 23-year-old participants. The overarching hypothesis for the study was that multisensory temporal function will mature with increasing age, with the developmental trajectory for this change being the primary point of inquiry. Results indeed reveal an age-dependent decrease in the size of the 'multisensory temporal binding window', the temporal interval within which multisensory stimuli are likely to be perceptually bound, with changes occurring over a surprisingly protracted time course that extends into adolescence.
我们生活在一个充满感官信息的世界里，因此大脑面临着破译来自各种感觉模式的线索哪些是相关联的挑战。关于感觉信息相关性的判断似乎至少部分基于刺激之间的空间和时间关系。在空间和时间上对应得非常接近的刺激更有可能彼此关联，从而“绑定”成一个单一的感知实体。虽然有大量文献描述了多感觉刺激引起的感知行为变化，但多感觉处理的成熟变化，特别是在时间领域，还知之甚少。本研究通过分析 6 至 23 岁参与者在视听同时性判断任务上的反应，来研究多感觉时间功能的发展进程。该研究的主要假设是，多感觉时间功能会随着年龄的增长而成熟，这种变化的发展轨迹是主要的探究点。结果确实表明，“多感觉时间绑定窗口”（多感觉刺激在感知上可能绑定的时间间隔）会随着年龄的增长而减小，这种变化发生在一个相当漫长的时间过程中，甚至延伸到青春期。
