Early integration processing between faces and vowel sounds in human brain: an MEG investigation
Itta Nakamura1, Yoji Hirano, Naotoshi Ohara
1Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Objective:
Unconscious fast integration of face and voice information is a crucial brain function necessary for communicating effectively with others. Here, we investigated for evidence of rapid face-voice integration in the auditory cortex.
Methods:
Magnetic fields (P50m and N100m) evoked by visual stimuli (V), auditory stimuli (A) and audiovisual stimuli (VA), i.e. by face, vowel and simultaneous vowel-face stimuli, were recorded in 22 healthy subjects. Magnetoencephalographic data from 28 channels around bilateral auditory cortices were analyzed.
Results:
In both hemispheres, AV - V showed significantly larger P50m amplitudes than A. Additionally, compared with A, the N100m amplitudes and dipole moments of AV - V were significantly smaller in the left hemisphere, but not in the right hemisphere.
Conclusions:
Differential changes in P50m (bilateral) and N100m (left hemisphere) that occur when V (faces) are associated with A (vowel sounds) indicate that AV (face-voice) integration occurs in early processing, likely enabling us to communicate effectively in our lives.
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