Multisensory guidance of orienting behavior.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review of basic animal and primate neurophysiology mechanism without original human trial data.
PubMed 19520151 · doi:10.1016/j.heares.2009.05.008
What was done
This paper is a narrative review of studies examining how the primate auditory and visual systems reconcile disparate spatial coordinate frames. It synthesizes findings on the neural mechanisms underlying reference-frame transformations—such as converting head-centered, rate-coded auditory inputs into eye-centered, retinotopic maps—necessary to guide orienting behaviors like gaze shifts.
What was found
The abstract reports no quantitative metrics or numerical data. It notes that while vision relies on an eye-centered, place-coded retinotopic map, audition relies on a head-centered, broadly tuned rate code. Although existing studies show evidence of neural coordinate transformations in the primate auditory pathway, substantial encoding differences between modalities persist across processing stages.
Why it matters
Understanding how disparate sensory coordinate frames are transformed and integrated clarifies how the primate central nervous system directs motor orienting responses toward multisensory environmental targets.
Limits
As a narrative review, it lacks a systematic literature search, standardized study selection, and quantitative meta-analysis. The abstract provides no sample sizes, and conclusions are primarily derived from animal and primate neurophysiological models.
Cited by
- supports Visual localization is computed in eye-centered (retinotopic) coordinates, whereas auditory localization cues are computed in head-centered coordinates.