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Auditory-Visual Interaction in the Superior Colliculus

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Comprehensive Human Physiology

Abstract

Perception of our world requires coordination of information from sensory and motoric systems. The three most important sources of sensory information are the ears, the eyes and the skin. Information from the peripheral organs are encoded in different parts of the brain, using different cues to define and locate an object in space. Objects are located acoustically by interaural time and intensity differences, visually by the locus of retinal activity, head and eye position, and somatosensorially by the locus of tactile sensations on the surface of the body. In order that acoustic, visual and tactile objects may be recognized as a single entity, information from the sensory systems must be combined. Moreover, sensory integration usually results in motoric responses, such as movement of the head, eyes, pinnae or limbs. Since all eye movements, for example, are mediated by the same population of motoneurons, sensory integration should entail transformation of different sensory coordinates into a common coordinate system (cf. Chaps. 48, 52).

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Authors
  1. A. W. Gummer
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  2. P. Plinkert
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  3. H.-P. Zenner
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Physiologisches Institut, Universität Freiburg, Hermann-Herder-Str. 7, 79104, Freiburg, Germany

    Rainer Greger

  2. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive N.W., T2N 4N1, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Uwe Windhorst

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Gummer, A.W., Plinkert, P., Zenner, HP. (1996). Auditory-Visual Interaction in the Superior Colliculus. In: Greger, R., Windhorst, U. (eds) Comprehensive Human Physiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-60946-6_42

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-60946-6_42

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-64619-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-60946-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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