MultisensoryIntegrationsareale

Multisensory Integrationsareale refers to brain regions where information from different sensory modalities converges and is integrated to support perception, action, and cognition. The term describes a network rather than a single structure, encompassing cortical and subcortical areas that process inputs from vision, audition, touch, and other senses. In the literature, multisensory integration is studied as the neural basis for constructing coherent percepts from disparate signals.

Key substrates include the superior temporal sulcus and nearby polysensory regions, the intraparietal sulcus and ventral premotor cortex, the posterior parietal cortex, and subcortical structures such as the superior colliculus. Neurons in these areas often respond to multiple modalities and can exhibit superadditive responses when inputs from different senses are combined, indicating information integration beyond simple summation. The brain often performs reliability-weighted, Bayesian-like integration, giving more influence to the more reliable sensory cue in a given context. Temporal alignment and spatial concordance are important factors in effective multisensory binding.

Developmentally, multisensory integration abilities emerge in infancy and refine with experience and training, showing plasticity after sensory loss or rehabilitation. Clinically, atypical multisensory processing has been associated with conditions such as autism spectrum disorders and age-related changes in perception. Common research approaches include functional imaging, single-unit recordings in animals, and behavioral paradigms that reveal integration effects such as audiovisual speech or ventriloquism-like tasks.