TY - JOUR

T1 - A general rule for sensory cue summation

T2 - evidence from photographic, musical, phonetic and cross-modal stimuli

AU - To, M. P. S.

AU - Baddeley, R. J.

AU - Troscianko, T.

AU - Tolhurst, D. J.

PY - 2011/5/7

Y1 - 2011/5/7

N2 - The Euclidean and MAX metrics have been widely used to model cue summation psychophysically and computationally. Both rules happen to be special cases of a more general Minkowski summation rule (Cue(1)(m) + Cue(2)(m))(1/m), where m = 2 and infinity, respectively. In vision research, Minkowski summation with power m = 3-4 has been shown to be a superior model of how subthreshold components sum to give an overall detection threshold. Recently, we have previously reported that Minkowski summation with power m = 2.84 accurately models summation of suprathreshold visual cues in photographs. In four suprathreshold discrimination experiments, we confirm the previous findings with new visual stimuli and extend the applicability of this rule to cue combination in auditory stimuli (musical sequences and phonetic utterances, where m = 2.95 and 2.54, respectively) and cross-modal stimuli (m = 2.56). In all cases, Minkowski summation with power m = 2.5-3 outperforms the Euclidean and MAX operator models. We propose that this reflects the summation of neuronal responses that are not entirely independent but which show some correlation in their magnitudes. Our findings are consistent with electrophysiological research that demonstrates signal correlations (r = 0.1-0.2) between sensory neurons when these are presented with natural stimuli.

AB - The Euclidean and MAX metrics have been widely used to model cue summation psychophysically and computationally. Both rules happen to be special cases of a more general Minkowski summation rule (Cue(1)(m) + Cue(2)(m))(1/m), where m = 2 and infinity, respectively. In vision research, Minkowski summation with power m = 3-4 has been shown to be a superior model of how subthreshold components sum to give an overall detection threshold. Recently, we have previously reported that Minkowski summation with power m = 2.84 accurately models summation of suprathreshold visual cues in photographs. In four suprathreshold discrimination experiments, we confirm the previous findings with new visual stimuli and extend the applicability of this rule to cue combination in auditory stimuli (musical sequences and phonetic utterances, where m = 2.95 and 2.54, respectively) and cross-modal stimuli (m = 2.56). In all cases, Minkowski summation with power m = 2.5-3 outperforms the Euclidean and MAX operator models. We propose that this reflects the summation of neuronal responses that are not entirely independent but which show some correlation in their magnitudes. Our findings are consistent with electrophysiological research that demonstrates signal correlations (r = 0.1-0.2) between sensory neurons when these are presented with natural stimuli.

KW - music

KW - cross-modal

KW - PRIMARY VISUAL-CORTEX

KW - PERFORMANCE

KW - CORTICAL-NEURONS

KW - natural images

KW - phonetics

KW - feature integration

KW - STRIATE CORTEX

KW - neuronal correlation

KW - DISCRIMINATION

KW - RECOGNITION

KW - NATURAL IMAGES

KW - PERCEPTION

KW - MODELS

KW - BINDING PROBLEM

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79953300999&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1098/rspb.2010.1888

DO - 10.1098/rspb.2010.1888

M3 - Journal article

VL - 278

SP - 1365

EP - 1372

JO - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

JF - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

SN - 0962-8452

IS - 1710

ER -