Cross-Modal Correspondence Among Vision, Audition, and Touch in Natural Objects: An Investigation of the Perceptual Properties of Wood.

Certain systematic relationships are often assumed between information conveyed from multiple sensory modalities; for instance, a small figure and a high pitch may be perceived as more harmonious. This phenomenon, termed cross-modal correspondence, may result from correlations between multi-sensory signals learned in daily experience of the natural environment. If so, we would observe cross-modal correspondences not only in the perception of artificial stimuli but also in perception of natural objects. To test this hypothesis, we reanalyzed data collected previously in our laboratory examining perceptions of the material properties of wood using vision, audition, and touch. We compared participant evaluations of three perceptual properties (surface brightness, sharpness of sound, and smoothness) of the wood blocks obtained separately via vision, audition, and touch. Significant positive correlations were identified for all properties in the audition-touch comparison, and for two of the three properties regarding in the vision-touch comparison. By contrast, no properties exhibited significant positive correlations in the vision-audition comparison. These results suggest that we learn correlations between multi-sensory signals through experience; however, the strength of this statistical learning is apparently dependent on the particular combination of sensory modalities involved.

Perception of the material properties of wood based on vision, audition, and touch.

Most research on the multimodal perception of material properties has investigated the perception of material properties of two modalities such as vision-touch, vision-audition, audition-touch, and vision-action. Here, we investigated whether the same affective classifications of materials can be found in three different modalities of vision, audition, and touch, using wood as the target object. Fifty participants took part in an experiment involving the three modalities of vision, audition, and touch, in isolation. Twenty-two different wood types including genuine, processed, and fake were perceptually evaluated using a questionnaire consisting of twenty-three items (12 perceptual and 11 affective). The results demonstrated that evaluations of the affective properties of wood were similar in all three modalities. The elements of "expensiveness, sturdiness, rareness, interestingness, and sophisticatedness" and "pleasantness, relaxed feelings, and liked-disliked" were separately grouped for all three senses. Our results suggest that the affective material properties of wood are at least partly represented in a supramodal fashion. Our results also suggest an association between perceptual and affective properties, which will be a useful tool not only in science, but also in applied fields.

Gemcitabine suppresses malignant ascites of human pancreatic cancer: correlation with VEGF expression in ascites.

It has been reported that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent angiogenic factor that also has the ability to increase vascular permeability. VEGF plays an important role in the development of malignant ascites in various cancers. Gemcitabine has been prescribed for patients with inoperable human pancreatic ductal carcinoma as a first-line chemotherapy. However, the response rates of patients with malignant ascites who were undergoing systemic chemotherapy were extremely limited. In the present study, we investigated the role of VEGF and the effects of gemcitabine on malignant ascites of human pancreatic ductal carcinoma. As an in vitro assay, the human pancreatic cancer cell line (SUIT-2) was incubated in DMEM supplemented with serially diluted concentrations of gemcitabine for 24 h. The expression levels of VEGF in culture media were assayed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). As an in vivo assay, a cell suspension (1 x 10(7) cells in 100 microliters PBS) was injected into the intraperitoneal region. The mice were randomly divided into two groups (control and treated with gemcitabine). The mice were sacrificed four weeks after inoculation, the ascites volume was measured, and the extent of peritoneal dissemination was examined. The expression levels of VEGF and CD31 in peritoneal nodules were examined by immunohistochemistry. In addition, secreted VEGF protein levels were quantified using ELISA. The results show that VEGF levels in the culture medium decreased in response to gemcitabine in a dose-dependent manner. The ascites formation and peritoneal dissemination within mice were suppressed by the treatment with gemcitabine. Immunohistochemical analysis suggested that expression of VEGF and CD31 in peritoneal nodules was suppressed by gemcitabine treatment, and the VEGF protein level in ascites was significantly decreased by gemcitabine (p<0.05). These results suggest that gemcitabine controls malignant ascites and peritoneal dissemination, either directly or indirectly, via VEGF. Moreover, intraperitoneal administration of gemcitabine may be a useful therapeutic approach for patients with malignant ascites in pancreatic carcinoma.