Undergraduate Course: Multisensory Integration (PSYL10097)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 10 |
| Home subject area | Psychology |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This course aims to provide an overview on how the senses work together to create a stable and coherent representation of the body and the external world. Covering a variety of methodologies, this course will describe and evaluate the results of recent research on multisensory integration. First, the neural mechanisms underlying multisensory integration will be outlined. We will then examine the perception of multisensory events, the advantages afforded by the ability to combine different sensory modalities and the key determinants of intersensory interactions. Another key question addressed will be how multisensory interactions are linked to and modulated by attention. We will specifically consider the latest evidences assessing the role of exogenous and endogenous attentional mechanisms on crossmodal processes. In addition, we will also focus on recent research concerning how multisensory information is used to create multiple spatial representations of our body parts and of the spaces within which they can act. We will see how these representations that are used by the brain to guide body movements trough space show a considerable degree of plasticity. Finally, we will consider how the cortical system for perception may become radically reorganized after sensory deprivation or crossmodal rerouting of sensory projections and evaluate this surprising degree of cross-modal plasticity that characterize cortical processing.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Degree major in Psychology and passes in Psychology courses at least to the equivalent of Junior Honours level in Edinburgh. Prior arrangement with the 4th year Honours Course Organiser. |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2013/14 Block 1 (Sem 1), Available to all students (SV1)
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Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
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Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Course Start Date |
16/09/2013 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
100 )
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| Additional Notes |
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| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Please contact the School directly for a breakdown of Assessment Methods
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| No Exam Information |
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| Delivery period: 2013/14 Block 1 (Sem 1), Part-year visiting students only (VV1)
|
Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
|
Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Course Start Date |
16/09/2013 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
100 )
|
| Additional Notes |
|
| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Please contact the School directly for a breakdown of Assessment Methods
|
| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of:
¿the brain mechanisms underlying multisensory integration
¿the perceptual and behavioural consequences of multisensory integration and the key determinants of these intersensory bindings
¿the role of attention on crossmodal perception and multisensory integration.
¿the multisensory brain¿s representation of the body and of peripersonal space
¿Cortical plasticity across sensory modalities and the effects of sensory deprivation
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Assessment Information
Essay (max 3000 words).
Visiting student assessment: essay to be submitted by 4pm, Friday 14 December |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Alais, Newell & Mamassian (2010). Multisensory processing in review: from physiology to behaviour. Seeing and perceiving, 23, 3-38.
Calvert, G.A. & Thesen, T., (2004) Multisensory integration: methodological approaches and emerging principles in the human brain. Journal of Physiology.
Driver & Spence (2000). Multisensory perception: Beyond modularity and convergence. Current Biology, 10, 731-735.
Driver and Noesselt (2008). Multisensory Interplay reveals crossmodal influences on sensory-specific brain regions, neural responses and judgments, Neuron 57, 11 ¿ 23.
Elbert & Rockstroh (2004) Reorganization of human cerebral cortex: the range of changes following use and injury. The Neuroscientist 10: 129-141
Gazzaniga et al. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience; pages 101¿106; 202-203
Holmes & Spence, (2006). The body schema and the multisensory representation(s) of peripersonal space. Cognitive processing.
Knoblich et al., (Eds). 2006. Human body perception from inside out. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Maravita & Iriki, (2004). Tools for the body (schema). Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
Maravita, Spence & Driver, (2003). Multisensory Integration and the Body Schema: Close to Hand and Within Reach. Current Biology.
Noppeney (2007) The effects of visual deprivation on functional and structural organization of the human brain. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 31: 1169-1180.
Ramachandran & Blakeslee (1998). Phantoms in the brain. Fourth Estate Limited
Spence, C. & Driver, J. (2004) Crossmodal Space and Crossmodal attention. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stein, B.E. & Stanford, T.R. (2008) Multisensory integration: current issues from the perspective of the single neuron. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 9: 255 ¿ 266.
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| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Elena Gherri
Tel: (0131 6)50 3340
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Fiona Graham
Tel: (0131 6)50 3440
Email: |
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