Postgraduate Course: Multisensory Integration (PSYL11066)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting 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. |
| Course description |
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 evidence 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 through 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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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2018/19, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Block 3 (Sem 2) |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
77 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
3000 word essay: Essays may be no longer than 2500 words of text. The word limitation includes cover page and abstract but excludes references |
| Feedback |
Feedback day in which students will have the possibility to discuss their coursework during one to one meetings. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate knowledge of the brain mechanisms underlying multisensory integration
- demonstrate knowledge of the perceptual and behavioural consequences of multisensory integration and the key determinants of these intersensory bindings
- demonstrate knowledge of the the role of attention on crossmodal perception and multisensory integration
- demonstrate knowledge of the the multisensory brain's representation of the body and of peripersonal space
- demonstrate knowledge of the Cortical plasticity across sensory modalities and the effects of sensory deprivation
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Reading List
Breedlove, S., Watson, N.V., Rosenzweig (2010). Biological Psychology (Sixth Edition). Sinauer. Chapters 9 - 10
Bear, M., Connors, B., & Paradiso, M. (2001). Neuroscience exploring the brain (third Edition). Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins. Chapters 9-12.
Stein, B.E. & Stanford, T.R. (2008) Multisensory integration: current issues from the perspective of the single neuron. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 9: 255 - 266.
Driver and Noesselt (2008). Multisensory Interplay reveals crossmodal influences on sensory-specific brain regions, neural responses and judgments, Neuron 57, 11 - 23.
Spence, C. & Driver, J. (2004) Crossmodal Space and Crossmodal attention. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [chapter 3 & pages 197-206]
Calvert, G.A. & Thesen, T., (2004) Multisensory integration: methodological approaches and emerging principles in the human brain. Journal of Physiology. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
Attend all lectures and tutorials as scheduled |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Elena Gherri
Tel: (0131 6)50 3340
Email: Elena.Gherri@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Toni Noble
Tel: (0131 6)51 3188
Email: Toni.noble@ed.ac.uk |
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