The multisensory attentional consequences of tool use: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Tool use in humans requires that multisensory information is integrated across different locations, from objects seen to be distant from the hand, but felt indirectly at the hand via the tool. We tested the hypothesis that using a simple tool to perceive vibrotactile stimuli results in the enhanced processing of visual stimuli presented at the distal, functional part of the tool. Such a finding would be consistent with a shift of spatial attention to the location where the tool is used.

Methodology/principal findings

We tested this hypothesis by scanning healthy human participants' brains using functional magnetic resonance imaging, while they used a simple tool to discriminate between target vibrations, accompanied by congruent or incongruent visual distractors,

SUBMITTER: Holmes NP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2567039 | biostudies-literature | 2008

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature