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Mark Wallace, Ph.D. |
Dr. Wallace is director of the Vanderbilt Brain Institute and holds the Louise B. McGayock Endowed Chair. He is a professor for hearing and speech sciences, psychology and psychiatry, and also serves as director of the neuroscience graduate program.
People gain a faster and more accurate perception of the world when they use information from multiple senses, and this process is critical for the functional development of the brain. Without appropriate integration and segregation of sensory cues, the world becomes a blooming and buzzing confusion.
Up to 90 percent of individuals with autism tend to integrate auditory and visual information over longer windows of time. They may be either insensitive or oversensitive to sensory stimuli. They also may be ‘sensory seeking,’ stimulating their senses through repetitive behaviors such as twirling or hand flapping. Importantly, brain regions underlying multisensory processing are highly malleable, and multisensory training has proven to be highly effective in changing temporal perception.
Dr. Wallace’s studies of multisensory integration training in individuals with autism focus on changing the perception of the outside world and provide a foundation for new strategies for autism treatments.
Cocktails and refreshments begin at 4:30 p.m. The event is presented by MMI and the Scottish Rite Valley of Omaha.