Development of multisensory temporal processing: Bridging between animal and human studies

The talk will compare and contrast results from animal neurophysiological and human psychophysical studies that have focused on characterizing the maturation of temporal factors that are critical determinants in the integration of audiovisual stimuli. In the animal model realm, individual neurons in both cortical and subcortical structures progress through a series of developmental stages. During this maturational progression, neurons first transition from having temporal tuning profiles that are quite narrow to having tuning functions that are very broad. This initial period of broadening is then followed by a more protracted developmental period in which these temporal tuning profiles gradually narrow to achieve adult-like values. In human development, where we have studied children from ages 6–18, a gradual narrowing of multisensory temporal function, specifically in the width of the multisensory temporal binding window, is observed. Our evidence suggests that this window is not fully mature until late adolescence, highlighting a surprisingly long period during which multisensory temporal function is changing. These results will be discussed in the context of their implications for both behavioral and perceptual development.