Project description
Dissecting multisensory processing in the brain
The brain has the unique ability to process information from the five primary senses. Through physical systems and intricate pathways, sensory stimuli converge to generate subjective perception. Failure of these mechanisms can lead to various conditions like autism. Funded by the European Research Council, the DynaSens project aims to investigate the mechanisms by which the brain combines sensory input and how these processes are affected in autism. Researchers will employ computational models, neuroimaging, and perceptual tasks to provide a comprehensive understanding of brain function and address the challenges associated with perception deficits in cognitive disorders.
Objective
The brain’s multisensory faculty provides considerable benefits for perception, as the adaptive weighting of multiple inputs increases perceptual reliability and flexibility. However, failure of this process results in an impoverished percept, and links to perceptual deficits that occur along our life span and in disorders such as Autism. While the brain efficiently handles multiple sensory inputs, we still have a limited understanding of the underlying neural mechanisms. To advance our knowledge of how the brain processes its environment I propose a pioneering agenda that departs from previous descriptive work by linking the underlying brain mechanisms with specific multisensory computations and perception.
Precisely, I propose a programme that combines computational models of multisensory interactions with high-density neuroimaging and perceptual tasks. This interdisciplinary research builds on my pioneering multisensory work but will provide a qualitatively new and principled understanding of the neural processes that implement the well-known perceptual benefits of multisensory information.
The proposed programme advances our knowledge by addressing the following timely questions: What are the neural processes transforming multiple sensory inputs to a unified representation guiding behaviour? How does the brain control the dynamic weighting of multiple inputs and assigns these to either a single or multiple causes? Which perceptual and neural processes are affected in the multisensory deficits seen in autistic individuals or the elderly?
This agenda, by its innovative methods and deliverables, will offer a principled and comprehensive understanding of how the brain handles and merges multiple sensory inputs, and provides a framework for addressing continuing and pressing problems associated with multisensory processing deficits seen in cognitive disorders and during our life span.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantHost institution
33615 Bielefeld
Germany