Nina Bien | Maastricht University (original) (raw)
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Papers by Nina Bien
Crossmodal binding usually relies on bottom-up stimulus characteristics such as spatial and tempo... more Crossmodal binding usually relies on bottom-up stimulus characteristics such as spatial and temporal correspondence. However, in case of ambiguity the brain has to decide whether to combine or segregate sensory inputs. We hypothesise that widespread, subtle forms of synesthesia provide crossmodal mapping patterns which underlie and influence multisensory perception. Our aim was to investigate if such a mechanism plays a role in the case of pitch-size stimulus combinations. Using a combination of psychophysics and ERPs, we could show that despite violations of spatial correspondence, the brain specifically integrates certain stimulus combinations which are congruent with respect to our hypothesis of pitch-size synesthesia, thereby impairing performance on an auditory spatial localisation task (Ventriloquist effect). Subsequently, we perturbed this process by functionally disrupting a brain area known for its role in multisensory processes, the right intraparietal sulcus, and observed how the Ventriloquist effect was abolished, thereby increasing behavioural performance. Correlating behavioural, TMS and ERP results, we could retrace the origin of the synesthestic pitch-size mappings to a right intraparietal involvement around 250ms. The results of this combined psychophysics, TMS and ERP study provide evidence for shifting the current viewpoint on synesthesia more towards synesthesia being at the extremity of a spectrum of normal, adaptive perceptual processes, entailing close interplay between the different sensory systems. Our results support this spectrum view of synesthesia by demonstrating that its neural basis crucially depends on normal multisensory processes.
During spatial mental imagery, TMS-induced disruption of parietal areas relevant for task executi... more During spatial mental imagery, TMS-induced disruption of parietal areas relevant for task execution has been shown to not always result in behavioural disruption. This is most likely the result of cortical compensational mechanisms, in which the right hemisphere is hypothesised to take over functions from the left. More insight into such compensational processes could eventually improve rehabilitation after brain damage. We aimed to visualize cortical compensation strategies evoked by TMS-induced virtual lesions to the parietal cortex.
Cerebral Cortex, Jan 1, 2009
Crossmodal binding usually relies on bottom-up stimulus characteristics such as spatial and tempo... more Crossmodal binding usually relies on bottom-up stimulus characteristics such as spatial and temporal correspondence. However, in case of ambiguity the brain has to decide whether to combine or segregate sensory inputs. We hypothesise that widespread, subtle forms of synesthesia provide crossmodal mapping patterns which underlie and influence multisensory perception. Our aim was to investigate if such a mechanism plays a role in the case of pitch-size stimulus combinations. Using a combination of psychophysics and ERPs, we could show that despite violations of spatial correspondence, the brain specifically integrates certain stimulus combinations which are congruent with respect to our hypothesis of pitch-size synesthesia, thereby impairing performance on an auditory spatial localisation task (Ventriloquist effect). Subsequently, we perturbed this process by functionally disrupting a brain area known for its role in multisensory processes, the right intraparietal sulcus, and observed how the Ventriloquist effect was abolished, thereby increasing behavioural performance. Correlating behavioural, TMS and ERP results, we could retrace the origin of the synesthestic pitch-size mappings to a right intraparietal involvement around 250ms. The results of this combined psychophysics, TMS and ERP study provide evidence for shifting the current viewpoint on synesthesia more towards synesthesia being at the extremity of a spectrum of normal, adaptive perceptual processes, entailing close interplay between the different sensory systems. Our results support this spectrum view of synesthesia by demonstrating that its neural basis crucially depends on normal multisensory processes.
During spatial mental imagery, TMS-induced disruption of parietal areas relevant for task executi... more During spatial mental imagery, TMS-induced disruption of parietal areas relevant for task execution has been shown to not always result in behavioural disruption. This is most likely the result of cortical compensational mechanisms, in which the right hemisphere is hypothesised to take over functions from the left. More insight into such compensational processes could eventually improve rehabilitation after brain damage. We aimed to visualize cortical compensation strategies evoked by TMS-induced virtual lesions to the parietal cortex.
Cerebral Cortex, Jan 1, 2009