Cross-modal stochastic resonance is a ubiquitous phenomenon, that is, a weak signal from one sensory pathway can be enhanced by the noise from a different sensory pathway. It is a special multisensory integration (MI) that can not be explained by the inverse-effectiveness rule. According to cross-modal stochastic resonance, the detection of signal is an inverted U-like function of the intensity of noise at different levels. In this paper, we reviewed the research of cross-modal stochastic resonance and put forward some possible explanations for it. These efforts raise a new idea for neural encoding and information processing of the brain.
Acoustic Stimulation ; Auditory Perception ; physiology ; Brain ; physiology ; Humans ; Mental Processes ; physiology ; Sensory Thresholds ; physiology ; Stochastic Processes ; Visual Perception ; physiology