Mental Imagery Induces Cross-Modal Sensory Plasticity and Changes Future Auditory Perception
- Creators
- Berger, Christopher C.
- Ehrsson, H. Henrik
Abstract
Can what we imagine in our minds change how we perceive the world in the future? A continuous process of multisensory integration and recalibration is responsible for maintaining a correspondence between the senses (e.g., vision, touch, audition) and, ultimately, a stable and coherent perception of our environment. This process depends on the plasticity of our sensory systems. The so-called ventriloquism aftereffect—a shift in the perceived localization of sounds presented alone after repeated exposure to spatially mismatched auditory and visual stimuli—is a clear example of this type of plasticity in the audiovisual domain. In a series of six studies with 24 participants each, we investigated an imagery-induced ventriloquism aftereffect in which imagining a visual stimulus elicits the same frequency-specific auditory aftereffect as actually seeing one. These results demonstrate that mental imagery can recalibrate the senses and induce the same cross-modal sensory plasticity as real sensory stimuli.
Additional Information
© 2018 SAGE Publications. Article first published online: April 10, 2018; Received: August 11, 2017; Accepted: November 27, 2017.Attached Files
Supplemental Material - BergerOpenPracticesDisclosure.pdf
Supplemental Material - BergerSupplementalMaterial.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 85868
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20180416-081510297
- Created
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2018-04-16Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-15Created from EPrint's last_modified field