Nonvisual influences on visual-information processing in the superior colliculus

Although visually responsive neurons predominate in the deep layers of the superior colliculus (SC), the majority of them also receive sensory inputs from nonvisual sources (i.e. auditory and/or somatosensory). Most of these 'multisensory' neurons are able to synthesize their cross-modal inputs and, as a consequence, their responses to visual stimuli can be profoundly enhanced or depressed in the presence of a nonvisual cue. Whether response enhancement or response depression is produced by this multisensory interaction is predictable based on several factors. These include: the organization of a neuron's visual and nonvisual receptive fields; the relative spatial relationships of the different stimuli (to their respective receptive fields and to one another); and whether or not the neuron is innervated by a select population of cortical neurons. The response enhancement or depression of SC neurons via multisensory integration has significant survival value via its profound impact on overt attentive/orientation behaviors. Nevertheless, these multisensory processes are not present at birth, and require an extensive period of postnatal maturation. It seems likely that the sensory experiences obtained during this period play an important role in crafting the processes underlying these multisensory interactions.