Causally Linking Neural Dominance to Perceptual Dominance in a Multisensory Conflict

Abstract

5When different senses are in conflict, one sense may dominate the perception of other sense, 2 6 but it is not known whether the sensory cortex associated with the dominant modality exerts 2 7 directional influence, at the functional brain level, over the sensory cortex associated with the 2 8 dominated modality; in short, the link between sensory dominance and neuronal dominance 2 9is not established. In a task involving audio-visual conflict, using magnetoencephalography 3 0 recordings in humans, we first demonstrated that the neuronal dominance -visual cortex 3 1 being functionally influenced by the auditory cortex -was associated with the sensory 3 2 dominance -participants' visual perception being qualitatively altered by sound. Further, we 3 3 found that prestimulus auditory-to-visual connectivity could predict the perceptual outcome 3 4 on a trial-by-trial basis. Subsequently, we performed an effective connectivity-guided 3 5 neurofeedback electroencephalography experiment and showed that participants who were 3 6 briefly trained to increase the neuronal dominance from auditory to visual cortex also showed 3 7 higher sensory, i.e. auditory, dominance during the conflict task immediately after the training. 3 8 The results shed new light into the interactive neuronal nature of multisensory integration and 3 9 open up exciting opportunities by enhancing or suppressing targeted mental functions 4 0 subserved by effective connectivity. 4 1 4 2

Can neurofeedback provide evidence of direct brain-behavior causality?

“…In other words, the question of whether one can genuinely infer causality using evidence from neurofeedback studies has remained unanswered. Despite this, several authors of rt-fMRI and M/EEG neurofeedback papers make causal claims based on results showing changes in a cognitive function following a neurofeedback intervention ( Bagherzadeh et al, 2020 ;Brickwedde et al, 2019 ;Okazaki et al, 2015 ;Scharnowski et al, 2015Scharnowski et al, , 2012Shibata et al, 2011 ;Yoo et al, 2012 ;Yun et al, 2020 )…”