An Investigation of multisensory integration: Does peak occipital beta frequency directly influence the Flash Tap illusion?

Building upon a previous project this research looks to investigate a proposed relationship between the peak frequency of occipital beta and the temporal binding window (Cooke, Gillmeister, Romei & Wilson, In preparation) for the Flash Tap illusion first proposed by Violentyev, Shimojo and Shams (2005). Seventeen participants from the University of Essex underwent a TMS protocol in order to experimentally reduce their peak occipital beta frequency. Measurements for the temporal window were investigated Pre- and Post-TMS in order to ascertain whether changing the peak beta frequency also directly resulted in a change in temporal binding window size. Post-TMS beta frequencies were found to be significantly reduced compared to Pre-TMS measurements. Similarly, Post-TMS measurements of the temporal window were found to be significantly greater than Pre-TMS measurements. This suggests that in addition to a correlation between the two values peak occipital beta frequencies may directly influence individual temporal binding windows for the Flash Tap illusion.