Elevated audiovisual temporal interaction in patients with migraine without aura

Abstract

BackgroundPhotophobia and phonophobia are the most prominent symptoms in patients with migraine without aura. Hypersensitivity to visual stimuli can lead to greater hypersensitivity to auditory stimuli, which suggests that the interaction between visual and auditory stimuli may play an important role in the pathogenesis of migraine. However, audiovisual temporal interactions in migraine have not been well studied. Therefore, our aim was to examine auditory and visual interactions in migraine.MethodsIn this study, visual, auditory, and audiovisual stimuli with different temporal intervals between the visual and auditory stimuli were randomly presented to the left or right hemispace. During this time, the participants were asked to respond promptly to target stimuli. We used cumulative distribution functions to analyze the response times as a measure of audiovisual integration.ResultsOur results showed that audiovisual integration was significantly elevated in the migraineurs compared with the normal controls (p < 0.05); however, audiovisual suppression was weaker in the migraineurs compared with the normal controls (p < 0.05).ConclusionsOur findings further objectively support the notion that migraineurs without aura are hypersensitive to external visual and auditory stimuli. Our study offers a new quantitative and objective method to evaluate hypersensitivity to audio-visual stimuli in patients with migraine.

Multisensory Integration in Migraine: Recent Developments

“…Yang et al, (2014) studied visual-audio integration in migraine by varying the inter-stimulus interval of visual and auditory stimuli to investigate the length of the integration window. There was evidence of greater integration window in migraine compared to control groups when the visual stimulus was presented before the auditory signal consistent with the idea that these populations are hyperexcitable (Yang et al, 2014). Audiovisual stimuli lead to suppression effects: longer intervals (200 -300ms) between audio and visual stimuli tend to result in suppression of the second stimulus, as the two are no longer thought to be linked (Meredith et al, 1987).…”

“…Audiovisual stimuli lead to suppression effects: longer intervals (200 -300ms) between audio and visual stimuli tend to result in suppression of the second stimulus, as the two are no longer thought to be linked (Meredith et al, 1987). Yang et al, (2014) demonstrated less suppression from audio stimuli on visual stimuli in migraine compared to control groups when there was this longer inter-stimulus interval, also consistent with the idea of hyperexcitation in migraine.…”

“…This shows an increased ability to discriminate between the stimuli during the ictal phase of a migraine attack (or much of the time, in the case of chronic migraine), however in the non-ictal phase temporal integration seems to operate over a longer time interval in migraine compared to control groups. It is possible that the results of the Yang et al, (2014) and Brighina et al, (2014) studies could be explained by a dominance for the visual cortex: an increase in visual cortex excitability relative to auditory cortex excitability. Alternatively, it could be the case that the longer time window for integration in migraine compared to control groups is due to the gating of sensory information.…”

“…Motion discrimination involves integration of a stimulus over time, and migraine groups are poorer at global motion tasks compared to controls (Antal et al, 2005;McKendrick et al, 2006;Ditchfield et al, 2006;Shepherd et al, 2012;Braunitzer et al, 2012;Tibber et al, 2014). There is evidence to suggest audio-visual integration operates over a longer time window in migraine compared to control groups (Yang et al, 2014). This is of interest as susceptibility to the soundinduced flash illusion is influenced by applying tDCS to modulate the length of the integration window (Cecere et al, 2015), which is thought to be controlled by alpha band oscillations in the cortex.…”

The Prevalence, Comorbidity, Management and Costs of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: An Observational Study Using Routine Health Insurance Data

“…Recent studies, including those utilizing functional MRI, also provide evidence that other sensory input, such as light, sound and odor, are biologically amplified in patients with COPCs. [276][277][278][279][280][281] In these studies, the insula -the brain region that plays a critical role in sensory integration -most consistently shows hyperactivity. 282 283 Using experimental pain testing, two pathogenic mechanisms have been found to contribute to enhanced pain perception and low sensory thresholds in individuals with COPCs:…”