Neural oscillations in the temporal pole for a temporally congruent audio-visual speech detection task

Though recent studies have elucidated the earliest mechanisms of processing in multisensory integration, our understanding of how multisensory integration of more sustained and complicated stimuli is implemented in higher-level association cortices is lacking. In this study, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to determine how neural oscillations alter local and global connectivity during multisensory integration processing. We acquired MEG data from 15 healthy volunteers performing an audio-visual speech matching task. We selected regions of interest (ROIs) using whole brain time-frequency analyses (power spectrum density and wavelet transform), then applied phase amplitude coupling (PAC) and imaginary coherence measurements to them. We identified prominent delta band power in the temporal pole (TP), and a remarkable PAC between delta band phase and beta band amplitude. Furthermore, imaginary coherence analysis demonstrated that the temporal pole and well-known multisensory areas (e.g., posterior parietal cortex and post-central areas) are coordinated through delta-phase coherence. Thus, our results suggest that modulation of connectivity within the local network, and of that between the local and global network, is important for audio-visual speech integration. In short, these neural oscillatory mechanisms within and between higher-level association cortices provide new insights into the brain mechanism underlying audio-visual integration.