Undergraduate Course: Multisensory Integration (PSYL10097)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | 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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| Course description |
Not entered
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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. |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Block 3 (Sem 2) |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
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Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
88 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Essay (3000 words) essay to be set by the course organiser and due 4pm, Thursday 26 February 2015
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| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
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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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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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
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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