New study shows the eye and the ear work together all the time
Harry Armytage
The Learning Difficulty Expert - helping bright sensitive kids rediscover a love of learning, Speaker
A study at Duke University reveals a direct link between eye and eardrum movements . With a head still a glance to the left caused eardrums to bulged and vibrate on the right. A glance to the right caused the eardrums bulged on the left.
Senior author of the study Jennifer Groh, professor of neurobiology, psychology and neuroscience: “We had been looking in the brain for quite a few years … we were finding evidence everywhere we looked that eye movements affect auditory processes.”
We process better when the eyes and ears work together. For example, we listen better if we can lipread. We can focus on one voice in a crowd if we look at that person. Our pupils dilate when are listening intently another person – our eyes are support our auditory system.
While most scientists believe our sensations remain separate until processed in the brain, these findings suggest that our two seeing and hearing are linked from the very start.
The findings, published on Jan. 23 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, add to the mounting evidence that our senses work together to assemble how we perceive our daily world. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1717948115.
These results explain why multi sensory programs are effective solution for kids with learning difficulties.
I took early retirement in 2019.
6 年What a fascinating article! This reinforces the importance of developing both visual and auditory processing in all aspects of learning. When there is a difficulty these skills need to be specifically taught but they are not, in my experience.