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Effect of anticipatory multisensory integration on sensory–motor performance

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Abstract

Multisensory integration (MSI) is a phenomenon that occurs in sensory areas after the presentation of multimodal stimuli. Nowadays, little is known about the anticipatory top-down processes taking place in the preparation stage of processing before the stimulus onset. Considering that the top-down modulation of modality-specific inputs might affect the MSI process, this study attempts to understand whether the direct modulation of the MSI process, beyond the well-known sensory effects, may lead to additional changes in multisensory processing also in non-sensory areas (i.e., those related to task preparation and anticipation). To this aim, event-related potentials (ERPs) were analyzed both before and after auditory and visual unisensory and multisensory stimuli during a discriminative response task (Go/No-go type). Results showed that MSI did not affect motor preparation in premotor areas, while cognitive preparation in the prefrontal cortex was increased and correlated with response accuracy. Early post-stimulus ERP activities were also affected by MSI and correlated with response time. Collectively, the present results point to the plasticity accommodating nature of the MSI processes, which are not limited to perception and extend to anticipatory cognitive preparation for task execution. Further, the enhanced cognitive control emerging during MSI is discussed in the context of Bayesian accounts of augmented predictive processing related to increased perceptual uncertainty.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This study was supported by the University of Rome “Foro Italico” grant CDR2.BANDO2020DRF to FDR.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, “Foro Italico” University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Stefania Lucia, Merve Aydin, Valentina Bianco, Linda Fiorini, Elena Mussini & Francesco Di Russo

  2. IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy

    Francesco Di Russo

  3. IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca, Italy

    Linda Fiorini

  4. Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy

    Elena Mussini

Authors
  1. Stefania Lucia
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  2. Merve Aydin
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  3. Valentina Bianco
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  4. Linda Fiorini
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  5. Elena Mussini
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  6. Francesco Di Russo
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Contributions

FDR and VB conceptualized and designed the study. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by SL, LF, and EM. The first draft of the manuscript was written by SL and FDR and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Stefania Lucia.

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Lucia, S., Aydin, M., Bianco, V. et al. Effect of anticipatory multisensory integration on sensory–motor performance. Brain Struct Funct 229, 549–559 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-023-02620-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-023-02620-3

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