Skip to main content

Monkeys and humans implement causal inference to simultaneously localize auditory and visual stimuli.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Mohl, JT; Pearson, JM; Groh, JM
Published in: J Neurophysiol
September 1, 2020

The environment is sampled by multiple senses, which are woven together to produce a unified perceptual state. However, optimally unifying such signals requires assigning particular signals to the same or different underlying objects or events. Many prior studies (especially in animals) have assumed fusion of cross-modal information, whereas recent work in humans has begun to probe the appropriateness of this assumption. Here we present results from a novel behavioral task in which both monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and humans localized visual and auditory stimuli and reported their perceived sources through saccadic eye movements. When the locations of visual and auditory stimuli were widely separated, subjects made two saccades, while when the two stimuli were presented at the same location they made only a single saccade. Intermediate levels of separation produced mixed response patterns: a single saccade to an intermediate position on some trials or separate saccades to both locations on others. The distribution of responses was well described by a hierarchical causal inference model that accurately predicted both the explicit "same vs. different" source judgments as well as biases in localization of the source(s) under each of these conditions. The results from this task are broadly consistent with prior work in humans across a wide variety of analogous tasks, extending the study of multisensory causal inference to nonhuman primates and to a natural behavioral task with both a categorical assay of the number of perceived sources and a continuous report of the perceived position of the stimuli.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We developed a novel behavioral paradigm for the study of multisensory causal inference in both humans and monkeys and found that both species make causal judgments in the same Bayes-optimal fashion. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of behavioral causal inference in animals, and this cross-species comparison lays the groundwork for future experiments using neuronal recording techniques that are impractical or impossible in human subjects.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

J Neurophysiol

DOI

EISSN

1522-1598

Publication Date

September 1, 2020

Volume

124

Issue

3

Start / End Page

715 / 727

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Visual Perception
  • Thinking
  • Space Perception
  • Sound Localization
  • Saccades
  • Neurology & Neurosurgery
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Eye-Tracking Technology
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Mohl, J. T., Pearson, J. M., & Groh, J. M. (2020). Monkeys and humans implement causal inference to simultaneously localize auditory and visual stimuli. J Neurophysiol, 124(3), 715–727. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00046.2020
Mohl, Jeff T., John M. Pearson, and Jennifer M. Groh. “Monkeys and humans implement causal inference to simultaneously localize auditory and visual stimuli.J Neurophysiol 124, no. 3 (September 1, 2020): 715–27. https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00046.2020.
Mohl JT, Pearson JM, Groh JM. Monkeys and humans implement causal inference to simultaneously localize auditory and visual stimuli. J Neurophysiol. 2020 Sep 1;124(3):715–27.
Mohl, Jeff T., et al. “Monkeys and humans implement causal inference to simultaneously localize auditory and visual stimuli.J Neurophysiol, vol. 124, no. 3, Sept. 2020, pp. 715–27. Pubmed, doi:10.1152/jn.00046.2020.
Mohl JT, Pearson JM, Groh JM. Monkeys and humans implement causal inference to simultaneously localize auditory and visual stimuli. J Neurophysiol. 2020 Sep 1;124(3):715–727.

Published In

J Neurophysiol

DOI

EISSN

1522-1598

Publication Date

September 1, 2020

Volume

124

Issue

3

Start / End Page

715 / 727

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Visual Perception
  • Thinking
  • Space Perception
  • Sound Localization
  • Saccades
  • Neurology & Neurosurgery
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Eye-Tracking Technology