Crossmodal Perception and Plasticity Laboratory, Institute for Research in Psychology and in Neuroscience, University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, 1348, Belgium
Crossmodal Perception and Plasticity Laboratory, Institute for Research in Psychology and in Neuroscience, University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, 1348, Belgium.
J Neurosci. 2021 Mar 17;41(11):2393-2405. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1552-20.2021. Epub 2021 Jan 29.
In humans, the occipital middle-temporal region (hMT/V5) specializes in the processing of visual motion, while the planum temporale (hPT) specializes in auditory motion processing. It has been hypothesized that these regions might communicate directly to achieve fast and optimal exchange of multisensory motion information. Here we investigated, for the first time in humans (male and female), the presence of direct white matter connections between visual and auditory motion-selective regions using a combined fMRI and diffusion MRI approach. We found evidence supporting the potential existence of direct white matter connections between individually and functionally defined hMT/V5 and hPT. We show that projections between hMT/V5 and hPT do not overlap with large white matter bundles, such as the inferior longitudinal fasciculus and the inferior frontal occipital fasciculus. Moreover, we did not find evidence suggesting the presence of projections between the fusiform face area and hPT, supporting the functional specificity of hMT/V5-hPT connections. Finally, the potential presence of hMT/V5-hPT connections was corroborated in a large sample of participants ( = 114) from the human connectome project. Together, this study provides a first indication for potential direct occipitotemporal projections between hMT/V5 and hPT, which may support the exchange of motion information between functionally specialized auditory and visual regions. Perceiving and integrating moving signal across the senses is arguably one of the most important perceptual skills for the survival of living organisms. In order to create a unified representation of movement, the brain must therefore integrate motion information from separate senses. Our study provides support for the potential existence of direct connections between motion-selective regions in the occipital/visual (hMT/V5) and temporal/auditory (hPT) cortices in humans. This connection could represent the structural scaffolding for the rapid and optimal exchange and integration of multisensory motion information. These findings suggest the existence of computationally specific pathways that allow information flow between areas that share a similar computational goal.
在人类中，枕叶中部颞区（hMT/V5）专门处理视觉运动，而颞平面（hPT）专门处理听觉运动处理。有人假设这些区域可能会直接通信，以实现快速和最佳的多感官运动信息交换。在这里，我们首次在人类（男性和女性）中使用功能磁共振成像和弥散磁共振成像相结合的方法，研究了视觉和听觉运动选择区域之间是否存在直接的白质连接。我们发现有证据支持在个体和功能上定义的 hMT/V5 和 hPT 之间存在潜在的直接白质连接。我们表明，hMT/V5 和 hPT 之间的投射不与大的白质束（如下纵束和下额枕束）重叠。此外，我们没有发现 hMT/V5 和 hPT 之间存在投射的证据，支持 hMT/V5-hPT 连接的功能特异性。最后，在人类连接组计划的一个大型参与者样本（n=114）中，验证了 hMT/V5-hPT 连接的潜在存在。总的来说，这项研究首次为 hMT/V5 和 hPT 之间可能存在的直接枕颞投射提供了证据，这可能支持功能专业化的听觉和视觉区域之间的运动信息交换。感知和整合跨感官的运动信号可以说是生物体生存的最重要的感知技能之一。为了创建运动的统一表示，大脑必须整合来自不同感官的运动信息。我们的研究为人类枕叶/视觉（hMT/V5）和颞叶/听觉（hPT）皮质中运动选择区域之间可能存在直接连接提供了支持。这种连接可能代表了快速和最佳的多感官运动信息交换和整合的结构支架。这些发现表明存在具有计算特异性的途径，允许在共享相似计算目标的区域之间进行信息流。
