Saccadic reaction times to audiovisual stimuli show effects of oscillatory phase reset.

ABSTRACT: Initiating an eye movement towards a suddenly appearing visual target is faster when an accessory auditory stimulus occurs in close spatiotemporal vicinity. Such facilitation of saccadic reaction time (SRT) is well-documented, but the exact neural mechanisms underlying the crossmodal effect remain to be elucidated. From EEG/MEG studies it has been hypothesized that coupled oscillatory activity in primary sensory cortices regulates multisensory processing. Specifically, it is assumed that the phase of an ongoing neural oscillation is shifted due to the occurrence of a sensory stimulus so that, across trials, phase values become highly consistent (phase reset). If one can identify the phase an oscillation is reset to, it is possible to predict when temporal windows of high and low excitabili

SUBMITTER: Diederich A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3463580 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature