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Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Using the Race Model Inequality to Quantify Behavioral Multisensory Integration Effects
Published on: May 10, 2019
The multifaceted interplay between attention and multisensory integration
Durk Talsma1, Daniel Senkowski, Salvador Soto-Faraco
1Department of Cognitive Psychology and Ergonomics, University of Twente, P.O. Box 215, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands. d.talsma@utwente.nl
Abstract:
Multisensory integration has often been characterized as an automatic process. Recent findings indicate that multisensory integration can occur across various stages of stimulus processing that are linked to, and can be modulated by, attention. Stimulus-driven, bottom-up mechanisms induced by crossmodal interactions can automatically capture attention towards multisensory events, particularly when competition to focus elsewhere is relatively low. Conversely, top-down attention can facilitate the integration of multisensory inputs and lead to a spread of attention across sensory modalities. These findings point to a more intimate and multifaceted interplay between attention and multisensory integration than was previously thought. We review developments in the current understanding of the interactions between attention and multisensory processing, and propose a framework that unifies previous, apparently discordant, findings.
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