Rhythmic modulation of visual perception by continuous rhythmic auditory stimulation

Abstract

At any given moment our sensory systems receive multiple, often rhythmic, inputs from the environment. Processing of temporally structured events in one sensory modality can guide both behavioural and neural processing of events in other sensory modalities, but whether this occurs remains unclear. Here, we used human electroencephalography (EEG) to test the cross-modal influences of a continuous auditory frequency-modulated (FM) sound on visual perception and visual cortical activity. We report systematic fluctuations in perceptual discrimination of brief visual stimuli in line with the phase of the FM sound. We further show that this rhythmic modulation in visual perception is related to an accompanying rhythmic modulation of neural activity recorded over visual areas. Importantly, in our task, perceptual and neural visual modulations occurred without any abrupt and salient onsets in the energy of the auditory stimulation and without any rhythmic structure in the visual stimulus. As such, the results provide a critical validation for the existence and functional role of cross-modal entrainment and demonstrates its utility for organising the perception of multisensory stimulation in the natural environment. Significance StatementOur sensory environment is filled with rhythmic structures that are often multi-sensory in nature. Here we show that the alignment of neural activity to the phase of an auditory frequency-modulated sound has cross-modal consequences for vision: yielding systematic fluctuations in perceptual discrimination of brief visual stimuli that is mediated by accompanying rhythmic modulation of neural activity recorded over visual areas. These cross-modal effects on visual neural activity and perception occurred without any abrupt and salient onsets in the energy of the auditory stimulation and without any rhythmic structure in the visual stimulus. The current work shows that continuous auditory fluctuations in the natural environment can provide a pacing signal for neural activity and perception across the senses.