The Impact of Selective Spatial Attention on Auditory–Tactile Integration: An Event-Related Potential Study

Weichao An, Nan Zhang, Shengnan Li, Yinghua Yu, Jinglong Wu, Jiajia Yang*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Background: Auditory–tactile integration is an important research area in multisensory integration. Especially in special environments (e.g., traffic noise and complex work environments), auditory–tactile integration is crucial for human response and decision making. We investigated the influence of attention on the temporal course and spatial distribution of auditory–tactile integration. Methods: Participants received auditory stimuli alone, tactile stimuli alone, and simultaneous auditory and tactile stimuli, which were randomly presented on the left or right side. For each block, participants attended to all stimuli on the designated side and detected uncommon target stimuli while ignoring all stimuli on the other side. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded via 64 scalp electrodes. Integration was quantified by comparing the response to the combined stimulus to the sum of the responses to the auditory and tactile stimuli presented separately. Results: The results demonstrated that compared to the unattended condition, integration occurred earlier and involved more brain regions in the attended condition when the stimulus was presented in the left hemispace. The unattended condition involved a more extensive range of brain regions and occurred earlier than the attended condition when the stimulus was presented in the right hemispace. Conclusions: Attention can modulate auditory–tactile integration and show systematic differences between the left and right hemispaces. These findings contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms of auditory–tactile information processing in the human brain.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1258
JournalBrain Sciences
Volume14
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2024
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • auditory–tactile integration
  • event-related potential
  • left–right hemispace differences
  • selective spatial attention
  • spatiotemporal distribution

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