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Related Experiment Videos

Auditory peripersonal space in humans.

Alessandro Farnè1, Elisabetta Làdavas

  • 1CNC Centro Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Bologna, Italy. farne@psibo.unibo.it

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
|November 7, 2002
PubMed
Summary

This study provides neuropsychological evidence for an auditory peripersonal space representation around the head in humans. Sounds near the head, especially complex ones, cause cross-modal extinction of tactile stimuli, indicating integrated sensory processing.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Sensory Integration

Background:

  • The peripersonal space is a multisensory representation of space near the body.
  • Previous research suggests integration of auditory and tactile information within this space.
  • The exact characteristics and neural underpinnings of auditory peripersonal space in humans remain under investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the existence and characteristics of auditory peripersonal space representation in humans.
  • To explore the spatial specificity and stimulus dependency of cross-modal auditory-tactile interactions.
  • To provide neuropsychological evidence supporting an integrated sensory system for peripersonal space.

Main Methods:

  • Studied right brain-damaged patients with tactile extinction.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Presented auditory stimuli (white noise bursts, pure tones) at varying distances (20 cm, 70 cm) near the head.
  • Assessed cross-modal extinction of tactile stimuli delivered to the contralateral side.
  • Investigated effects of sound complexity, location (front/back), and stimulus arrangement.

    • Main Results:

    • Auditory stimuli near the head (20 cm) significantly extinguished tactile stimuli, a phenomenon reduced at further distances (70 cm).
    • This spatially specific cross-modal extinction was more pronounced with complex sounds (white noise) and in the back space.
    • Reversing stimulus roles (touch near, sound far) did not yield similar spatial-specific effects, ruling out simple representational competition.

    Conclusions:

    • Findings support the existence of an auditory peripersonal space representation in humans.
    • This space integrates auditory and tactile information, particularly for stimuli close to the body.
    • The results align with neurophysiological evidence from primates, suggesting a conserved cross-modal system for peripersonal space.