Exploring the Multisensory Paradigm

Thomas J. Anastasio

Beckman Institute NeuroTech Group, UIUC

The multisensory paradigm provides a powerful tool for exploring ideas about sensory processing, and decision making in general. Recent work suggests that animals might make decisions based on computations by neurons of the expected utilities of events, such as the appearance of certain stimuli in the environment. But expected utility is a function both of the behavioral utility of a stimulus and the expectation of its occurrence. The multisensory paradigm allows us to design experiments that can separate these two components. Central to many theories of sensory processing is the idea that the brain cannot ascertain the occurrence of an event precisely, but that certain neurons compute the probability of an event based on sensory input. Again, the multisensory paradigm provides a tool to test this idea directly. The purpose of this talk is to describe hypotheses, derived from models of multisensory integration, which can shed light on the neurophysiological basis of decision making in the brain.

Bio: 
Tom Anastasio is an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular  
and Integrative Physiology, a full-time member of the Beckman 
Institute, a member of the Neuroscience Program, and an 
Affiliate of the Computer Science Department.  His research 
interests are in computational and conceptual modeling of the 
brain.

Deepak Ramachandran

Last modified: Mon Feb 13 11:11:27 CST 2006