Study shows how brain combines subtle sensory signals to take notice
For a mouse, that ability can make the difference between life and death. Neither a faint screech nor a tiny black speck in the sky might trigger any worry, but the two together strongly suggest a hawk is in the air. It matters in daily human life, too. An incoming call on a cell phone can be more noticeable when it is signaled visually and with sound, for example. "It's really important to understand how all of our senses interact to give us a whole picture of the world," said study lead author Torrey Truszkowski, a neuroscience doctoral student at Brown University. "If something is super salient in the visual system -- a bright flash of light -- you don't need the multisensory mechanism. If there is only a small change in light levels, you might ignore it -- but if in the same area of visual space you also have a piece of auditory information coming in, then you are more likely to notice that and decide if you need to do something about that." To und...