Abstract

Crossmodal perceptual illusions such as ventriloquism, the McGurk effect, the rubber hand, and the sound-induced flash demonstrate that one sense can causally impact perceptual processing and experience that is associated with another sense. This chapter argues that such causal interactions between senses are not merely accidental. Interactions between senses are part of typical perceptual functioning. Unlike synesthesia, they reveal principled perceptual strategies for dealing with noisy, fallible sensory stimulation from multiple sources. Recalibrations resolve conflicts between senses and weight in deference to the more reliable modality. Coordination between senses thus improves the coherence and the reliability of human perceptual capacities. Therefore, some perceptual processes of the sort relevant to empirical psychology are multisensory.