TY - JOUR
T1 - Cortical fMRI activation to sequences of tones alternating in frequency
T2 - Relationship to perceived rate and streaming
AU - Wilson, E. Courtenay
AU - Melcher, Jennifer R.
AU - Micheyl, Christophe
AU - Gutschalk, Alexander
AU - Oxenham, Andrew J.
PY - 2007/3
Y1 - 2007/3
N2 - Human listeners were functionally imaged while reporting their perception of sequences of alternating-frequency tone bursts separated by 0, 1/8, 1, or 20 semitones. Our goal was to determine whether functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activation of auditory cortex changes with frequency separation in a manner predictable from the perceived rate of the stimulus. At the null and small separations, the tones were generally heard as a single stream with a perceived rate equal to the physical tone presentation rate. fMRI activation in auditory cortex was appreciably phasic, showing prominent peaks at the sequence onset and offset. At larger-frequency separations, the higher- and lower-frequency tones perceptually separated into two streams, each with a rate equal to half the overall tone presentation rate. Under those conditions, fMRI activation in auditory cortex was more sustained throughout the sequence duration and was larger in magnitude and extent. Phasic to sustained changes in fMRI activation with changes in frequency separation and perceived rate are comparable to, and consistent with, those produced by changes in the physical rate of a sequence and are far greater than the effects produced by changing other physical stimulus variables, such as sound level or bandwidth. We suggest that the neural activity underlying the changes in fMRI activation with frequency separation contribute to the coding of the co-occurring changes in perceived rate and perceptual organization of the sound sequences into auditory streams.
AB - Human listeners were functionally imaged while reporting their perception of sequences of alternating-frequency tone bursts separated by 0, 1/8, 1, or 20 semitones. Our goal was to determine whether functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activation of auditory cortex changes with frequency separation in a manner predictable from the perceived rate of the stimulus. At the null and small separations, the tones were generally heard as a single stream with a perceived rate equal to the physical tone presentation rate. fMRI activation in auditory cortex was appreciably phasic, showing prominent peaks at the sequence onset and offset. At larger-frequency separations, the higher- and lower-frequency tones perceptually separated into two streams, each with a rate equal to half the overall tone presentation rate. Under those conditions, fMRI activation in auditory cortex was more sustained throughout the sequence duration and was larger in magnitude and extent. Phasic to sustained changes in fMRI activation with changes in frequency separation and perceived rate are comparable to, and consistent with, those produced by changes in the physical rate of a sequence and are far greater than the effects produced by changing other physical stimulus variables, such as sound level or bandwidth. We suggest that the neural activity underlying the changes in fMRI activation with frequency separation contribute to the coding of the co-occurring changes in perceived rate and perceptual organization of the sound sequences into auditory streams.
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U2 - 10.1152/jn.00788.2006
DO - 10.1152/jn.00788.2006
M3 - Article
C2 - 17202231
AN - SCOPUS:33947151446
VL - 97
SP - 2230
EP - 2238
JO - Journal of Neurophysiology
JF - Journal of Neurophysiology
SN - 0022-3077
IS - 3
ER -