Electrophysiological Correlates of Multisensory Integration in Peripersonal Space: an Exploration of the Auditory Attention System

• Author / Creator

  Surdhar, Ian S

• Neuroscientific investigations of the primate brain point to the presence of multimodal (visual, tactile, auditory) neurons that preferentially code stimuli presented in the space immediately surrounding the body, termed peripersonal space. The activity of these neurons has been shown to facilitate sensory and motor processing to stimuli looming near, or approaching the body. Furthermore, neuropsychological evidence indicates that peripersonal space coding is closely related to the activity of the human attention system. Here we present results from two studies which served to elucidate the differential activity of the auditory attention system in response to peripersonal and extrapersonal stimuli. The data reveal proximity dependent multisensory interactions across early, late, selective and automatic stages of auditory attention processing and further indicate that the peripersonal region of multisensory integration is dynamically linked to the functional (not physical) sphere of the body.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Attention
  • N2
  • P2
  • Peripersonal Space
  • Event related potentials

• Graduation date

  Fall 2012

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3JS48

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.