Insights on the Neuromagnetic Representation of Temporal Asymmetry in Human Auditory Cortex.

Communication sounds are typically asymmetric in time and human listeners are highly sensitive to this short-term temporal asymmetry. Nevertheless, causal neurophysiological correlates of auditory perceptual asymmetry remain largely elusive to our current analyses and models. Auditory modelling and...

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Main Authors: Alejandro Tabas, Anita Siebert, Selma Supek, Daniel Pressnitzer, Emili Balaguer-Ballester, André Rupp
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2016-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4838253?pdf=render
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author Alejandro Tabas
Anita Siebert
Selma Supek
Daniel Pressnitzer
Emili Balaguer-Ballester
André Rupp
author_facet Alejandro Tabas
Anita Siebert
Selma Supek
Daniel Pressnitzer
Emili Balaguer-Ballester
André Rupp
author_sort Alejandro Tabas
collection DOAJ
description Communication sounds are typically asymmetric in time and human listeners are highly sensitive to this short-term temporal asymmetry. Nevertheless, causal neurophysiological correlates of auditory perceptual asymmetry remain largely elusive to our current analyses and models. Auditory modelling and animal electrophysiological recordings suggest that perceptual asymmetry results from the presence of multiple time scales of temporal integration, central to the auditory periphery. To test this hypothesis we recorded auditory evoked fields (AEF) elicited by asymmetric sounds in humans. We found a strong correlation between perceived tonal salience of ramped and damped sinusoids and the AEFs, as quantified by the amplitude of the N100m dynamics. The N100m amplitude increased with stimulus half-life time, showing a maximum difference between the ramped and damped stimulus for a modulation half-life time of 4 ms which is greatly reduced at 0.5 ms and 32 ms. This behaviour of the N100m closely parallels psychophysical data in a manner that: i) longer half-life times are associated with a stronger tonal percept, and ii) perceptual differences between damped and ramped are maximal at 4 ms half-life time. Interestingly, differences in evoked fields were significantly stronger in the right hemisphere, indicating some degree of hemispheric specialisation. Furthermore, the N100m magnitude was successfully explained by a pitch perception model using multiple scales of temporal integration of auditory nerve activity patterns. This striking correlation between AEFs, perception, and model predictions suggests that the physiological mechanisms involved in the processing of pitch evoked by temporal asymmetric sounds are reflected in the N100m.
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spelling doaj.art-c386e6180d994bd29da47c484f5701092022-12-21T19:57:58ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-01114e015394710.1371/journal.pone.0153947Insights on the Neuromagnetic Representation of Temporal Asymmetry in Human Auditory Cortex.Alejandro TabasAnita SiebertSelma SupekDaniel PressnitzerEmili Balaguer-BallesterAndré RuppCommunication sounds are typically asymmetric in time and human listeners are highly sensitive to this short-term temporal asymmetry. Nevertheless, causal neurophysiological correlates of auditory perceptual asymmetry remain largely elusive to our current analyses and models. Auditory modelling and animal electrophysiological recordings suggest that perceptual asymmetry results from the presence of multiple time scales of temporal integration, central to the auditory periphery. To test this hypothesis we recorded auditory evoked fields (AEF) elicited by asymmetric sounds in humans. We found a strong correlation between perceived tonal salience of ramped and damped sinusoids and the AEFs, as quantified by the amplitude of the N100m dynamics. The N100m amplitude increased with stimulus half-life time, showing a maximum difference between the ramped and damped stimulus for a modulation half-life time of 4 ms which is greatly reduced at 0.5 ms and 32 ms. This behaviour of the N100m closely parallels psychophysical data in a manner that: i) longer half-life times are associated with a stronger tonal percept, and ii) perceptual differences between damped and ramped are maximal at 4 ms half-life time. Interestingly, differences in evoked fields were significantly stronger in the right hemisphere, indicating some degree of hemispheric specialisation. Furthermore, the N100m magnitude was successfully explained by a pitch perception model using multiple scales of temporal integration of auditory nerve activity patterns. This striking correlation between AEFs, perception, and model predictions suggests that the physiological mechanisms involved in the processing of pitch evoked by temporal asymmetric sounds are reflected in the N100m.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4838253?pdf=render
spellingShingle Alejandro Tabas
Anita Siebert
Selma Supek
Daniel Pressnitzer
Emili Balaguer-Ballester
André Rupp
Insights on the Neuromagnetic Representation of Temporal Asymmetry in Human Auditory Cortex.
PLoS ONE
title Insights on the Neuromagnetic Representation of Temporal Asymmetry in Human Auditory Cortex.
title_full Insights on the Neuromagnetic Representation of Temporal Asymmetry in Human Auditory Cortex.
title_fullStr Insights on the Neuromagnetic Representation of Temporal Asymmetry in Human Auditory Cortex.
title_full_unstemmed Insights on the Neuromagnetic Representation of Temporal Asymmetry in Human Auditory Cortex.
title_short Insights on the Neuromagnetic Representation of Temporal Asymmetry in Human Auditory Cortex.
title_sort insights on the neuromagnetic representation of temporal asymmetry in human auditory cortex
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4838253?pdf=render
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