We live in a multisensory world. Our experiences are constructed by the stimulation of all our senses. Nevertheless, digital interactions mainly based on audiovisual elements, while other sensory stimuli have been less explored. Virtual reality (VR) is sensory-enabling technology that facilitates integration inputs to enhance experiences. This study analyzes how addition ambient scent VR experi...

To form a coherent percept of the environment, our brain combines information from different senses. Such multisensory integration occurs in higher association cortices; but supposedly, it also occurs in early sensory areas. Confirming the latter hypothesis, we unequivocally demonstrate supra-additive integration of touch and sound stimulation at the second stage of the auditory cortex. Using h...

Using high-field (3 Tesla) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we demonstrate that auditory and somatosensory inputs converge in a subregion of human auditory cortex along the superior temporal gyrus. Further, simultaneous stimulation in both sensory modalities resulted in activity exceeding that predicted by summing the responses to the unisensory inputs, thereby showing multisensory...

Dementia is a growing problem worldwide and interventions to effectively manage and promote function are urgently required. Multisensory environments (MSEs) have been used extensively with people with dementia; however, no studies have been conducted to explore the efficacy of sensory stimulation on functional performance. This study explores to what extent multisensory stimulation influences f...

Behavioral work demonstrates human infants are sensitive to a host of intersensory properties and this sensitivity promotes early learning and memory. However, little is known regarding the neural basis of this ability in infants. Using event-related potentials (ERPs) with infants and adults, we show that during passive viewing auditory evoked brain responses are increased with the presence of ...

We constantly feel, see and move our body, and have no doubt that it is our own. The brain possesses a distinction between the body and the objects in the outside world. This distinction may be based on a process that monitors whether sensations, events and objects should be attributed to one's body or not. We controlled whether an external object was represented as part of the body or not, by ...

Objective and easy measurement of sensory processing is extremely difficult in nonverbal or vulnerable pediatric patients. We developed a new methodology to quantitatively assess children's cortical processing of light touch, speech sounds and the multisensory processing of the 2 stimuli, without requiring active subject participation or causing children discomfort. To accomplish this we develo...

Long-term effects of multisensory stimulation were assessed using a "Snoezelen" room on older residents with dementia. Thirty patients were randomly assigned to 3 groups: multisensory stimulation environment (MSSE) group, individualized activities (activity) group, and control group. The MSSE and activity groups participated in two 30-minute weekly individualized intervention sessions over 16 w...

Responses of multisensory neurons to combinations of sensory cues are generally enhanced or depressed relative to single cues presented alone, but the rules that govern these interactions have remained unclear. We examined integration of visual and vestibular self-motion cues in macaque area MSTd in response to unimodal as well as congruent and conflicting bimodal stimuli in order to evaluate h...

Few issues in psychology are as fundamental or as elusive as the sense of one’s own body. Despite widespread recognition of the link between body and self, psychology has only recently developed methods for the scientific study of bodily awareness. Experimental manipulations of embodiment in healthy volunteers have allowed for important advances in knowledge. Synchronous multisensory inputs fro...