Brigitte Roeder
Universitat Hamburg
"Developmental and adult plasticity of multisensory functions“
abstract
Recent data have suggested that the development of multisensory
functions follows a protracted developmental time course. One example is
the spatial matching of crossmodal input. Spatial functions necessary
for crossmodal matching seem to emerge in mid and late childhood. They
depend on visual input and their development is incomplete if vision is
missing during the first years of life. These results point towards
sensitive phases for the development of multisensory functions at least
if crossmodal matching is based on spatial congruency. However, due to
changes of the sensory systems, the body and the environment, it is
important that adults are able to recalibrate their multisensory
representations as well. Evidence for the neural mechanisms of adult
crossmodal recalibration and context dependent adaptation will be
presented.