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Audio-visual integration effect in lateral occipital cortex during an object recognition task: An interference pilot
F Giovannelli1, F Giganti2, S Righi2
1Unit of Neurology, Florence Health Authority, Florence, Italy; Departments of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research, Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
Background:
Recent neuroimaging data support the hypothesis of a multisensory interplay at low-level sensory-specific cortex.
Objective:
We used an on-line interference approach by rTMS to investigate the role of the left lateral occipital cortex (LOC) in audio-visual (AV) object recognition process.
Methods:
Fifteen healthy volunteers performed a visual identification task of degraded pictures presented alone or simultaneously to coherent or non-coherent sounds. Focal 10-Hz rTMS at an intensity of 100% resting motor threshold was delivered simultaneously to the picture. Two blocks of 60 pictures were randomly displayed in two different experimental conditions: rTMS of the left LOC and over Cz.
Results:
rTMS of the left LOC produced a worsening of the accuracy compared to rTMS over Cz specifically in the coherent AV condition.
Conclusion:
These data support the view that audio-visual interaction effect may occur at early stage of recognition processing.
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