Deactivation of Sensory-Specific Cortex by Cross-Modal Stimuli

• DOI: 10.1162/089892902317361930
• Publication Date: 2002-07-27T11:58:45Z
• Authors: Paul J. Laurienti; Jonathan H. Burdette; Mark T. Wallace; Yi-Fen Yen; Aaron S. Field; Barry E. Stein
• Keywords: Stimulus modality; Modality (human–computer interaction); Auditory imagery; Sensory cortex

Visual and auditory cortices traditionally have been considered to be "modality-specific." Thus, their activity has thought unchanged by information in other sensory modalities. However, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the present experiments revealed that ongoing visual cortex could modulated information. In both cases, this cross-modal modulation of took form deactivation. Yet, deactivation response was not evident either cortical area during paired presentation stimuli. These data suggest inhibitory processes operate within traditional modality-specific these can switched on or off different circumstances.