Scientists have discovered that the visual cortex of the brain also processes information from the ears as well as the eyes.

Auditory input can help the visual system in the brain predict incoming information, and even offer a survival tactic.

Lead researcher Professor Lars Muckli, of the Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of Glasgow, and colleagues conducted five different experiments using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to look at the early visual cortex’s activity in 10 study participants.

One experiment involved blindfolding the volunteers, then asking them to listen to three different sounds, including traffic noise, birds singing, and talking in a crowd. The researchers were able to distinguish between the varying sounds that were processed in early visual cortex activity using a specific algorithm that can pinpoint unique brain activity patterns.

In another experiment, the researchers were able to delve even deeper into the early visual cortex, and identify imagined images that evoked brain activity in the absence of sight and sound.

“In future we will test how this auditory information supports visual processing, but the assumption is it provides predictions to help the visual system to focus on surprising events which would confer a survival advantage,” said Muckli in a statement.

Continued research will be conducted to identify more sounds to discover how exact predictive brain coding can be.

The findings of the study are published in the journal Current Biology.