The influence of colour and sound on neuronal activation during visual object naming

Brain Res. 2008 Nov 19;1241(1):92-102. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2008.08.037. Epub 2008 Aug 26.

Abstract

This paper investigates how neuronal activation for naming photographs of objects is influenced by the addition of appropriate colour or sound. Behaviourally, both colour and sound are known to facilitate object recognition from visual form. However, previous functional imaging studies have shown inconsistent effects. For example, the addition of appropriate colour has been shown to reduce antero-medial temporal activation whereas the addition of sound has been shown to increase posterior superior temporal activation. Here we compared the effect of adding colour or sound cues in the same experiment. We found that the addition of either the appropriate colour or sound increased activation for naming photographs of objects in bilateral occipital regions and the right anterior fusiform. Moreover, the addition of colour reduced left antero-medial temporal activation but this effect was not observed for the addition of object sound. We propose that activation in bilateral occipital and right fusiform areas precedes the integration of visual form with either its colour or associated sound. In contrast, left antero-medial temporal activation is reduced because object recognition is facilitated after colour and form have been integrated.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acoustic Stimulation
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Auditory Perception / physiology*
  • Brain Mapping
  • Cerebral Cortex / anatomy & histology
  • Cerebral Cortex / diagnostic imaging
  • Cerebral Cortex / physiology*
  • Color Vision / physiology*
  • Female
  • Functional Laterality / physiology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Nerve Net / anatomy & histology
  • Nerve Net / diagnostic imaging
  • Nerve Net / physiology*
  • Neurons / physiology*
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Occipital Lobe / anatomy & histology
  • Occipital Lobe / diagnostic imaging
  • Occipital Lobe / physiology
  • Pattern Recognition, Visual / physiology*
  • Photic Stimulation
  • Positron-Emission Tomography
  • Temporal Lobe / anatomy & histology
  • Temporal Lobe / diagnostic imaging
  • Temporal Lobe / physiology
  • Visual Cortex / anatomy & histology
  • Visual Cortex / diagnostic imaging
  • Visual Cortex / physiology
  • Visual Pathways / anatomy & histology
  • Visual Pathways / diagnostic imaging
  • Visual Pathways / physiology
  • Young Adult