1
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Ying R, Stolzberg DJ, Caras ML. Neural correlates of flexible sound perception in the auditory midbrain and thalamus. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.12.589266. [PMID: 38645241 PMCID: PMC11030403 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.12.589266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/23/2024]
Abstract
Hearing is an active process in which listeners must detect and identify sounds, segregate and discriminate stimulus features, and extract their behavioral relevance. Adaptive changes in sound detection can emerge rapidly, during sudden shifts in acoustic or environmental context, or more slowly as a result of practice. Although we know that context- and learning-dependent changes in the spectral and temporal sensitivity of auditory cortical neurons support many aspects of flexible listening, the contribution of subcortical auditory regions to this process is less understood. Here, we recorded single- and multi-unit activity from the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICC) and the ventral subdivision of the medial geniculate nucleus (MGV) of Mongolian gerbils under two different behavioral contexts: as animals performed an amplitude modulation (AM) detection task and as they were passively exposed to AM sounds. Using a signal detection framework to estimate neurometric sensitivity, we found that neural thresholds in both regions improved during task performance, and this improvement was driven by changes in firing rate rather than phase locking. We also found that ICC and MGV neurometric thresholds improved and correlated with behavioral performance as animals learn to detect small AM depths during a multi-day perceptual training paradigm. Finally, we reveal that in the MGV, but not the ICC, context-dependent enhancements in AM sensitivity grow stronger during perceptual training, mirroring prior observations in the auditory cortex. Together, our results suggest that the auditory midbrain and thalamus contribute to flexible sound processing and perception over rapid and slow timescales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rose Ying
- Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742
- Center for Comparative and Evolutionary Biology of Hearing, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742
| | - Daniel J. Stolzberg
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742
| | - Melissa L. Caras
- Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742
- Center for Comparative and Evolutionary Biology of Hearing, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742
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2
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Zoefel B, Kösem A. Neural tracking of continuous acoustics: properties, speech-specificity and open questions. Eur J Neurosci 2024; 59:394-414. [PMID: 38151889 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2023] [Revised: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 11/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/29/2023]
Abstract
Human speech is a particularly relevant acoustic stimulus for our species, due to its role of information transmission during communication. Speech is inherently a dynamic signal, and a recent line of research focused on neural activity following the temporal structure of speech. We review findings that characterise neural dynamics in the processing of continuous acoustics and that allow us to compare these dynamics with temporal aspects in human speech. We highlight properties and constraints that both neural and speech dynamics have, suggesting that auditory neural systems are optimised to process human speech. We then discuss the speech-specificity of neural dynamics and their potential mechanistic origins and summarise open questions in the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benedikt Zoefel
- Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CerCo), CNRS UMR 5549, Toulouse, France
- Université de Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
| | - Anne Kösem
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), INSERM U1028, Bron, France
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3
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Bonnet P, Bonnefond M, Kösem A. What is a Rhythm for the Brain? The Impact of Contextual Temporal Variability on Auditory Perception. J Cogn 2024; 7:15. [PMID: 38250558 PMCID: PMC10798173 DOI: 10.5334/joc.344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 01/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Temporal predictions can be formed and impact perception when sensory timing is fully predictable: for instance, the discrimination of a target sound is enhanced if it is presented on the beat of an isochronous rhythm. However, natural sensory stimuli, like speech or music, are not entirely predictable, but still possess statistical temporal regularities. We investigated whether temporal expectations can be formed in non-fully predictable contexts, and how the temporal variability of sensory contexts affects auditory perception. Specifically, we asked how "rhythmic" an auditory stimulation needs to be in order to observe temporal predictions effects on auditory discrimination performances. In this behavioral auditory oddball experiment, participants listened to auditory sound sequences where the temporal interval between each sound was drawn from gaussian distributions with distinct standard deviations. Participants were asked to discriminate sounds with a deviant pitch in the sequences. Auditory discrimination performances, as measured with deviant sound discrimination accuracy and response times, progressively declined as the temporal variability of the sound sequence increased. Moreover, both global and local temporal statistics impacted auditory perception, suggesting that temporal statistics are promptly integrated to optimize perception. Altogether, these results suggests that temporal predictions can be set up quickly based on the temporal statistics of past sensory events and are robust to a certain amount of temporal variability. Therefore, temporal predictions can be built on sensory stimulations that are not purely periodic nor temporally deterministic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pierre Bonnet
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), Computation, Cognition and Neurophysiology team (Cophy), Inserm U1028, Université Claude Bernard Lyon1, CNRS UMR 5292, 69000 Lyon, France
| | - Mathilde Bonnefond
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), Computation, Cognition and Neurophysiology team (Cophy), Inserm U1028, Université Claude Bernard Lyon1, CNRS UMR 5292, 69000 Lyon, France
| | - Anne Kösem
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CRNL), Computation, Cognition and Neurophysiology team (Cophy), Inserm U1028, Université Claude Bernard Lyon1, CNRS UMR 5292, 69000 Lyon, France
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4
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Perrodin C, Verzat C, Bendor D. Courtship behaviour reveals temporal regularity is a critical social cue in mouse communication. eLife 2023; 12:RP86464. [PMID: 38149925 PMCID: PMC10752583 DOI: 10.7554/elife.86464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2023] Open
Abstract
While animals navigating the real world face a barrage of sensory input, their brains evolved to perceptually compress multidimensional information by selectively extracting the features relevant for survival. Notably, communication signals supporting social interactions in several mammalian species consist of acoustically complex sequences of vocalisations. However, little is known about what information listeners extract from such time-varying sensory streams. Here, we utilise female mice's natural behavioural response to male courtship songs to identify the relevant acoustic dimensions used in their social decisions. We found that females were highly sensitive to disruptions of song temporal regularity and preferentially approached playbacks of intact over rhythmically irregular versions of male songs. In contrast, female behaviour was invariant to manipulations affecting the songs' sequential organisation or the spectro-temporal structure of individual syllables. The results reveal temporal regularity as a key acoustic cue extracted by mammalian listeners from complex vocal sequences during goal-directed social behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine Perrodin
- Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, University College LondonLondonUnited Kingdom
| | - Colombine Verzat
- Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, University College LondonLondonUnited Kingdom
- Idiap Research InstituteMartignySwitzerland
| | - Daniel Bendor
- Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, University College LondonLondonUnited Kingdom
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5
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Englitz B, Akram S, Elhilali M, Shamma S. Decoding contextual influences on auditory perception from primary auditory cortex. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.12.24.573229. [PMID: 38187523 PMCID: PMC10769425 DOI: 10.1101/2023.12.24.573229] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
Perception can be highly dependent on stimulus context, but whether and how sensory areas encode the context remains uncertain. We used an ambiguous auditory stimulus - a tritone pair - to investigate the neural activity associated with a preceding contextual stimulus that strongly influenced the tritone pair's perception: either as an ascending or a descending step in pitch. We recorded single-unit responses from a population of auditory cortical cells in awake ferrets listening to the tritone pairs preceded by the contextual stimulus. We find that the responses adapt locally to the contextual stimulus, consistent with human MEG recordings from the auditory cortex under the same conditions. Decoding the population responses demonstrates that pitch-change selective cells are able to predict well the context-sensitive percept of the tritone pairs. Conversely, decoding the distances between the pitch representations predicts the opposite of the percept. The various percepts can be readily captured and explained by a neural model of cortical activity based on populations of adapting, pitch and pitch-direction selective cells, aligned with the neurophysiological responses. Together, these decoding and model results suggest that contextual influences on perception may well be already encoded at the level of the primary sensory cortices, reflecting basic neural response properties commonly found in these areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- B Englitz
- Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
- Computational Neuroscience Lab, Donders Institute for Brain Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - S Akram
- Research Data Science, Meta Platforms
| | - M Elhilali
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA
| | - S Shamma
- Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
- Equipe Audition, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France
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6
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Jones A, Silas J, Anderson W, Ward EV. Null effects of temporal prediction on recognition memory but evidence for differential neural activity at encoding. A registered report. Cortex 2023; 169:130-145. [PMID: 37871519 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.09.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2023] [Revised: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/26/2023] [Indexed: 10/25/2023]
Abstract
Previous research has demonstrated that rhythmic presentation of stimuli during encoding boosts subsequent recognition and is associated with distinct neural activity compared with when stimuli are presented in an arrhythmic manner. However, it is unclear whether the effect is driven by automatic entrainment to rhythm or non-rhythmic temporal prediction. This registered report presents an Electroencephalographic (EEG) study aimed at establishing the cognitive and neural mechanisms of the effect of temporal prediction on recognition. In a blocked design, stimulus onset during encoding was systematically manipulated in four conditions prior to recognition testing: rhythmic fixed (RF), rhythmic variable (RV), arrhythmic fixed (AF), and arrhythmic variable (AV). By orthogonally varying rhythm and temporal position we were able to assess their independent contributions to recognition enhancement. Our behavioural results did not replicate previous findings that show a difference in recognition memory based on temporal predictability at encoding. However, event-related potential (ERP) component analysis did show an early (N1) interaction effect of temporal position and rhythm, and later (N2 and Dm) effects driven by temporal position only. Taken together, we observed effects of temporal prediction at encoding, but these differences did not translate to later effects of memory, suggesting that effects of temporal prediction on recognition are less robust than previously thought.
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Heynckes M, Hoffmann K, Formisano E, De Martino F, De Weerd P. Predictability awareness rather than mere predictability enhances the perceptual benefits for targets in auditory rhythms over targets following temporal cues. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0284755. [PMID: 37889894 PMCID: PMC10610080 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0284755] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2022] [Accepted: 04/08/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Sounds following a cue or embedded in a periodic rhythm are processed more effectively than sounds that are part of an aperiodic rhythm. One might also expect that a sound embedded in a periodic rhythm is processed more effectively than a sound following a single temporal cue. Such a finding would follow the theory that the entrainment of neural rhythmic activity by periodic stimuli renders the prediction of upcoming stimuli more efficient. We conducted a psychophysical experiment in which we tested the behavioral elements of this idea. Targets in periodic and aperiodic rhythms, if they occurred, always appeared at the same moment in time, and thus were fully predictable. In a first condition, participants remained unaware of this. In a second condition, an explicit instruction on the temporal location of the targets embedded in rhythms was provided. We assessed sensitivity and reaction times to the target stimuli in a difficult temporal detection task, and contrasted performance in this task to that obtained for targets temporally cued by a single preceding cue. Irrespective of explicit information about target predictability, target detection performance was always better in the periodic and temporal cue conditions, compared to the aperiodic condition. However, we found that the mere predictability of an acoustic target within a periodic rhythm did not allow participants to detect the target any better than in a condition where the target's timing was predicted by a single temporal cue. Only when participants were made aware of the specific moment in the periodic rhythm where the target could occur, did sensitivity increase. This finding suggests that a periodic rhythm is not automatically sufficient to provide perceptual benefits compared to a condition predictable yet not rhythmic condition (a cue). In some conditions, as shown here, these benefits may only occur in interaction with other factors such as explicit instruction and directed attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miriam Heynckes
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Kim Hoffmann
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Elia Formisano
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Maastricht Centre for Systems Biology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Federico De Martino
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Peter De Weerd
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
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8
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Northoff G, Klar P, Bein M, Safron A. As without, so within: how the brain's temporo-spatial alignment to the environment shapes consciousness. Interface Focus 2023; 13:20220076. [PMID: 37065263 PMCID: PMC10102730 DOI: 10.1098/rsfs.2022.0076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2022] [Accepted: 03/02/2023] [Indexed: 04/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Consciousness is constituted by a structure that includes contents as foreground and the environment as background. This structural relation between the experiential foreground and background presupposes a relationship between the brain and the environment, often neglected in theories of consciousness. The temporo-spatial theory of consciousness addresses the brain-environment relation by a concept labelled 'temporo-spatial alignment'. Briefly, temporo-spatial alignment refers to the brain's neuronal activity's interaction with and adaption to interoceptive bodily and exteroceptive environmental stimuli, including their symmetry as key for consciousness. Combining theory and empirical data, this article attempts to demonstrate the yet unclear neuro-phenomenal mechanisms of temporo-spatial alignment. First, we suggest three neuronal layers of the brain's temporo-spatial alignment to the environment. These neuronal layers span across a continuum from longer to shorter timescales. (i) The background layer comprises longer and more powerful timescales mediating topographic-dynamic similarities between different subjects' brains. (ii) The intermediate layer includes a mixture of medium-scaled timescales allowing for stochastic matching between environmental inputs and neuronal activity through the brain's intrinsic neuronal timescales and temporal receptive windows. (iii) The foreground layer comprises shorter and less powerful timescales for neuronal entrainment of stimuli temporal onset through neuronal phase shifting and resetting. Second, we elaborate on how the three neuronal layers of temporo-spatial alignment correspond to their respective phenomenal layers of consciousness. (i) The inter-subjectively shared contextual background of consciousness. (ii) An intermediate layer that mediates the relationship between different contents of consciousness. (iii) A foreground layer that includes specific fast-changing contents of consciousness. Overall, temporo-spatial alignment may provide a mechanism whose different neuronal layers modulate corresponding phenomenal layers of consciousness. Temporo-spatial alignment can provide a bridging principle for linking physical-energetic (free energy), dynamic (symmetry), neuronal (three layers of distinct time-space scales) and phenomenal (form featured by background-intermediate-foreground) mechanisms of consciousness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georg Northoff
- Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics Research Unit, TheRoyal's Institute of Mental Health Research, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1Z 7K4
- Mental Health Centre, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310053, People's Republic of China
- Centre for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310053, People's Republic of China
| | - Philipp Klar
- Medical Faculty, C. & O. Vogt-Institute for Brain Research, Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Magnus Bein
- Department of Biology and Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Quebec, Canada H3A 0G4
| | - Adam Safron
- Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Cognitive Science Program, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
- Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies, Santa Monica, CA 90403, USA
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9
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Pomper U. No evidence for tactile entrainment of attention. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1168428. [PMID: 37303888 PMCID: PMC10250593 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1168428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 05/11/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Temporal patterns in our environment provide a rich source of information, to which endogenous neural processes linked to perception and attention can synchronize. This phenomenon, known as entrainment, has so far been studied predominately in the visual and auditory domains. It is currently unknown whether sensory phase-entrainment generalizes to the tactile modality, e.g., for the perception of surface patterns or when reading braille. Here, we address this open question via a behavioral experiment with preregistered experimental and analysis protocols. Twenty healthy participants were presented, on each trial, with 2 s of either rhythmic or arrhythmic 10 Hz tactile stimuli. Their task was to detect a subsequent tactile target either in-phase or out-of-phase with the rhythmic entrainment. Contrary to our hypothesis, we observed no evidence for sensory entrainment in response times, sensitivity or response bias. In line with several other recently reported null findings, our data suggest that behaviorally relevant sensory phase-entrainment might require very specific stimulus parameters, and may not generalize to the tactile domain.
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10
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Forward entrainment: Psychophysics, neural correlates, and function. Psychon Bull Rev 2022:10.3758/s13423-022-02220-y. [DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02220-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
AbstractWe define forward entrainment as that part of behavioral or neural entrainment that outlasts the entraining stimulus. In this review, we examine conditions under which one may optimally observe forward entrainment. In Part 1, we review and evaluate studies that have observed forward entrainment using a variety of psychophysical methods (detection, discrimination, and reaction times), different target stimuli (tones, noise, and gaps), different entraining sequences (sinusoidal, rectangular, or sawtooth waveforms), a variety of physiological measures (MEG, EEG, ECoG, CSD), in different modalities (auditory and visual), across modalities (audiovisual and auditory-motor), and in different species. In Part 2, we describe those experimental conditions that place constraints on the magnitude of forward entrainment, including an evaluation of the effects of signal uncertainty and attention, temporal envelope complexity, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), rhythmic rate, prior experience, and intersubject variability. In Part 3 we theorize on potential mechanisms and propose that forward entrainment may instantiate a dynamic auditory afterimage that lasts a fraction of a second to minimize prediction error in signal processing.
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11
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Cross-modal attentional effects of rhythmic sensory stimulation. Atten Percept Psychophys 2022; 85:863-878. [PMID: 36385670 PMCID: PMC10066103 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-022-02611-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
AbstractTemporal regularities are ubiquitous in our environment. The theory of entrainment posits that the brain can utilize these regularities by synchronizing neural activity with external events, thereby, aligning moments of high neural excitability with expected upcoming stimuli and facilitating perception. Despite numerous accounts reporting entrainment of behavioural and electrophysiological measures, evidence regarding this phenomenon remains mixed, with several recent studies having failed to provide confirmatory evidence. Notably, it is currently unclear whether and for how long the effects of entrainment can persist beyond their initiating stimulus, and whether they remain restricted to the stimulated sensory modality or can cross over to other modalities. Here, we set out to answer these questions by presenting participants with either visual or auditory rhythmic sensory stimulation, followed by a visual or auditory target at six possible time points, either in-phase or out-of-phase relative to the initial stimulus train. Unexpectedly, but in line with several recent studies, we observed no evidence for cyclic fluctuations in performance, despite our design being highly similar to those used in previous demonstrations of sensory entrainment. However, our data revealed a temporally less specific attentional effect, via cross-modally facilitated performance following auditory compared with visual rhythmic stimulation. In addition to a potentially higher salience of auditory rhythms, this could indicate an effect on oscillatory 3-Hz amplitude, resulting in facilitated cognitive control and attention. In summary, our study further challenges the generality of periodic behavioural modulation associated with sensory entrainment, while demonstrating a modality-independent attention effect following auditory rhythmic stimulation.
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12
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Saberi K, Hickok G. A critical analysis of Lin et al.'s (2021) failure to observe forward entrainment in pitch discrimination. Eur J Neurosci 2022; 56:5191-5200. [PMID: 35857282 PMCID: PMC9804316 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2022] [Revised: 06/30/2022] [Accepted: 07/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Forward entrainment refers to that part of the entrainment process that outlasts the entraining stimulus. Several studies have demonstrated psychophysical forward entrainment in a pitch-discrimination task. In a recent paper, Lin et al. (2021) challenged these findings by demonstrating that a sequence of 4 entraining pure tones does not affect the ability to determine whether a frequency modulated pulse, presented after termination of the entraining sequence, has swept up or down in frequency. They concluded that rhythmic sequences do not facilitate pitch discrimination. Here, we describe several methodological and stimulus design flaws in Lin et al.'s study that may explain their failure to observe forward entrainment in pitch discrimination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kourosh Saberi
- Department of Cognitive SciencesUniversity of CaliforniaIrvineCaliforniaUSA
| | - Gregory Hickok
- Department of Cognitive SciencesUniversity of CaliforniaIrvineCaliforniaUSA,Department of Language ScienceUniversity of CaliforniaIrvineCaliforniaUSA
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13
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Lin JFL, Imada T, Meltzoff AN, Hiraishi H, Ikeda T, Takahashi T, Hasegawa C, Yoshimura Y, Kikuchi M, Hirata M, Minabe Y, Asada M, Kuhl PK. Dual-MEG interbrain synchronization during turn-taking verbal interactions between mothers and children. Cereb Cortex 2022; 33:4116-4134. [PMID: 36130088 PMCID: PMC10068303 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2021] [Revised: 07/26/2022] [Accepted: 07/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Verbal interaction and imitation are essential for language learning and development in young children. However, it is unclear how mother-child dyads synchronize oscillatory neural activity at the cortical level in turn-based speech interactions. Our study investigated interbrain synchrony in mother-child pairs during a turn-taking paradigm of verbal imitation. A dual-MEG (magnetoencephalography) setup was used to measure brain activity from interactive mother-child pairs simultaneously. Interpersonal neural synchronization was compared between socially interactive and noninteractive tasks (passive listening to pure tones). Interbrain networks showed increased synchronization during the socially interactive compared to noninteractive conditions in the theta and alpha bands. Enhanced interpersonal brain synchrony was observed in the right angular gyrus, right triangular, and left opercular parts of the inferior frontal gyrus. Moreover, these parietal and frontal regions appear to be the cortical hubs exhibiting a high number of interbrain connections. These cortical areas could serve as a neural marker for the interactive component in verbal social communication. The present study is the first to investigate mother-child interbrain neural synchronization during verbal social interactions using a dual-MEG setup. Our results advance our understanding of turn-taking during verbal interaction between mother-child dyads and suggest a role for social "gating" in language learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jo-Fu Lotus Lin
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS), University of Washington, Portage Bay Building, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105, USA.,Research Center for Child Mental Development, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takaramachi, Kanazawa-City, Ishikawa-Ken 920-8640, Japan.,Institute of Linguistics, National Tsing Hua University, 101, Section 2, Kuang-Fu Road, Hsinchu 300044, Taiwan
| | - Toshiaki Imada
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS), University of Washington, Portage Bay Building, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105, USA.,Research Center for Child Mental Development, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takaramachi, Kanazawa-City, Ishikawa-Ken 920-8640, Japan
| | - Andrew N Meltzoff
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS), University of Washington, Portage Bay Building, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105, USA
| | - Hirotoshi Hiraishi
- Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1 Chome-20-1 Handayama, Higashi Ward, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 431-3192, Japan
| | - Takashi Ikeda
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takaramachi, Kanazawa-City, Ishikawa-Ken 920-8640, Japan
| | | | - Chiaki Hasegawa
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takaramachi, Kanazawa-City, Ishikawa-Ken 920-8640, Japan
| | - Yuko Yoshimura
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takaramachi, Kanazawa-City, Ishikawa-Ken 920-8640, Japan
| | - Mitsuru Kikuchi
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takaramachi, Kanazawa-City, Ishikawa-Ken 920-8640, Japan
| | - Masayuki Hirata
- Department of Neurosurgery, Osaka University Medical School, 2 Chome-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
| | - Yoshio Minabe
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takaramachi, Kanazawa-City, Ishikawa-Ken 920-8640, Japan
| | - Minoru Asada
- Department of Adaptive Machine Systems, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
| | - Patricia K Kuhl
- Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS), University of Washington, Portage Bay Building, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105, USA
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14
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Ferreri L, Versace R, Victor C, Plancher G. Temporal Predictions in Space: Isochronous Rhythms Promote Forward Projections of the Body. Front Psychol 2022; 13:832322. [PMID: 35602686 PMCID: PMC9115380 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.832322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2021] [Accepted: 03/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
A regular rhythmic stimulation increases people's ability to anticipate future events in time and to move their body in space. Temporal concepts are usually prescribed to spatial locations through a past-behind and future-ahead mapping. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that a regular rhythmic stimulation could promote the forward-body (i.e., toward the future) projections in the peri-personal space. In a Visual Approach/Avoidance by the Self Task (VAAST), participants (N = 24) observed a visual scene on the screen (i.e., a music studio with a metronome in the middle). They were exposed to 3 s of auditory isochronous or non-isochronous rhythms, after which they were asked to make as quickly as possible a perceptual judgment on the visual scene (i.e., whether the metronome pendulum was pointing to the right or left). The responses could trigger a forward or backward visual flow, i.e., approaching or moving them away from the scene. Results showed a significant interaction between the rhythmic stimulation and the movement projections (p < 0.001): participants were faster for responses triggering forward-body projections (but not backward-body projections) after the exposure to isochronous (but not non-isochronous) rhythm. By highlighting the strong link between isochronous rhythms and forward-body projections, these findings support the idea that temporal predictions driven by a regular auditory stimulation are grounded in a perception-action system integrating temporal and spatial information.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Gaën Plancher
- Laboratoire d’Étude des Mécanismes Cognitifs, Université Lumière Lyon 2, Lyon, France
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15
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Herbst SK, Stefanics G, Obleser J. Endogenous modulation of delta phase by expectation–A replication of Stefanics et al., 2010. Cortex 2022; 149:226-245. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2021] [Revised: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 02/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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16
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Beker S, Foxe JJ, Molholm S. Oscillatory entrainment mechanisms and anticipatory predictive processes in children with autism spectrum disorder. J Neurophysiol 2021; 126:1783-1798. [PMID: 34644178 PMCID: PMC8794059 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00329.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Anticipating near-future events is fundamental to adaptive behavior, whereby neural processing of predictable stimuli is significantly facilitated relative to nonpredictable events. Neural oscillations appear to be a key anticipatory mechanism by which processing of upcoming stimuli is modified, and they often entrain to rhythmic environmental sequences. Clinical and anecdotal observations have led to the hypothesis that people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have deficits in generating predictions, and as such, a candidate neural mechanism may be failure to adequately entrain neural activity to repetitive environmental patterns, to facilitate temporal predictions. We tested this hypothesis by interrogating temporal predictions and rhythmic entrainment using behavioral and electrophysiological approaches. We recorded high-density electroencephalography in children with ASD and typically developing (TD) age- and IQ-matched controls, while they reacted to an auditory target as quickly as possible. This auditory event was either preceded by predictive rhythmic visual cues or was not preceded by any cue. Both ASD and control groups presented comparable behavioral facilitation in response to the Cue versus No-Cue condition, challenging the hypothesis that children with ASD have deficits in generating temporal predictions. Analyses of the electrophysiological data, in contrast, revealed significantly reduced neural entrainment to the visual cues and altered anticipatory processes in the ASD group. This was the case despite intact stimulus-evoked visual responses. These results support intact behavioral temporal prediction in response to a cue in ASD, in the face of altered neural entrainment and anticipatory processes.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We examined behavioral and EEG indices of predictive processing in children with ASD to rhythmically predictable stimuli. Although behavioral measures of predictive processing and evoked neural responses were intact in the ASD group, neurophysiological measures of preparatory activity and entrainment were impaired. When sensory events are presented in a predictable temporal pattern, performance and neuronal responses in ASD may be governed more by the occurrence of the events themselves and less by their anticipated timing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shlomit Beker
- Department of Pediatrics, The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.,Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York
| | - John J Foxe
- Department of Pediatrics, The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.,Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.,Department of Neuroscience, The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, The Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York
| | - Sophie Molholm
- Department of Pediatrics, The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.,Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.,Department of Neuroscience, The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, The Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York.,Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York
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17
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Bouwer FL, Nityananda V, Rouse AA, ten Cate C. Rhythmic abilities in humans and non-human animals: a review and recommendations from a methodological perspective. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200335. [PMID: 34420380 PMCID: PMC8380979 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/27/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Rhythmic behaviour is ubiquitous in both human and non-human animals, but it is unclear whether the cognitive mechanisms underlying the specific rhythmic behaviours observed in different species are related. Laboratory experiments combined with highly controlled stimuli and tasks can be very effective in probing the cognitive architecture underlying rhythmic abilities. Rhythmic abilities have been examined in the laboratory with explicit and implicit perception tasks, and with production tasks, such as sensorimotor synchronization, with stimuli ranging from isochronous sequences of artificial sounds to human music. Here, we provide an overview of experimental findings on rhythmic abilities in human and non-human animals, while critically considering the wide variety of paradigms used. We identify several gaps in what is known about rhythmic abilities. Many bird species have been tested on rhythm perception, but research on rhythm production abilities in the same birds is lacking. By contrast, research in mammals has primarily focused on rhythm production rather than perception. Many experiments also do not differentiate between possible components of rhythmic abilities, such as processing of single temporal intervals, rhythmic patterns, a regular beat or hierarchical metrical structures. For future research, we suggest a careful choice of paradigm to aid cross-species comparisons, and a critical consideration of the multifaceted abilities that underlie rhythmic behaviour. This article is part of the theme issue 'Synchrony and rhythm interaction: from the brain to behavioural ecology'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fleur L. Bouwer
- Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC), University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94242, 1090 CE Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 15900, 1001 NK Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Vivek Nityananda
- Biosciences Institute, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Henry Wellcome Building, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK
| | - Andrew A. Rouse
- Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA
| | - Carel ten Cate
- Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL), Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden University, PO Box 9505, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
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18
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Cannon J. Expectancy-based rhythmic entrainment as continuous Bayesian inference. PLoS Comput Biol 2021; 17:e1009025. [PMID: 34106918 PMCID: PMC8216548 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2020] [Revised: 06/21/2021] [Accepted: 04/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
When presented with complex rhythmic auditory stimuli, humans are able to track underlying temporal structure (e.g., a "beat"), both covertly and with their movements. This capacity goes far beyond that of a simple entrained oscillator, drawing on contextual and enculturated timing expectations and adjusting rapidly to perturbations in event timing, phase, and tempo. Previous modeling work has described how entrainment to rhythms may be shaped by event timing expectations, but sheds little light on any underlying computational principles that could unify the phenomenon of expectation-based entrainment with other brain processes. Inspired by the predictive processing framework, we propose that the problem of rhythm tracking is naturally characterized as a problem of continuously estimating an underlying phase and tempo based on precise event times and their correspondence to timing expectations. We present two inference problems formalizing this insight: PIPPET (Phase Inference from Point Process Event Timing) and PATIPPET (Phase and Tempo Inference). Variational solutions to these inference problems resemble previous "Dynamic Attending" models of perceptual entrainment, but introduce new terms representing the dynamics of uncertainty and the influence of expectations in the absence of sensory events. These terms allow us to model multiple characteristics of covert and motor human rhythm tracking not addressed by other models, including sensitivity of error corrections to inter-event interval and perceived tempo changes induced by event omissions. We show that positing these novel influences in human entrainment yields a range of testable behavioral predictions. Guided by recent neurophysiological observations, we attempt to align the phase inference framework with a specific brain implementation. We also explore the potential of this normative framework to guide the interpretation of experimental data and serve as building blocks for even richer predictive processing and active inference models of timing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Cannon
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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19
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Kulkarni M, Hannula DE. Temporal Regularity May Not Improve Memory for Item-Specific Detail. Front Psychol 2021; 12:623402. [PMID: 33776845 PMCID: PMC7991072 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.623402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Accepted: 02/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Regularities in event timing allow for the allocation of attention to critical time-points when an event is most likely to occur, leading to improved visual perception. Results from recent studies indicate that similar benefits may extend to memory for scenes and objects. Here, we investigated whether benefits of temporal regularity are evident when detailed, item-specific representations are necessary for successful recognition memory performance. In Experiments 1 and 2, pictures of objects were presented with either predictable or randomized event timing, in separate encoding blocks. In the test phase, old and new objects were presented, intermixed with perceptually similar exemplars of encoded objects. In Experiment 3 we attempted to replicate previously reported memory enhancements for scenes. In contrast to predictions, temporal regularity did not affect response times (RT) or improve recognition memory accuracy in any of our experiments. These results suggest that any effects of temporal expectation on memory are subtle and may be sensitive to minor changes in task parameters. In sum, indirect upregulation of attention through imposed temporal structure may not be sufficient to have downstream effects on memory performance.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Deborah E. Hannula
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, United States
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20
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Hodapp A, Grimm S. Neural signatures of temporal regularity and recurring patterns in random tonal sound sequences. Eur J Neurosci 2021; 53:2740-2754. [PMID: 33481296 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2020] [Revised: 12/18/2020] [Accepted: 01/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
The auditory system is highly sensitive to recurring patterns in the acoustic input - even in otherwise unstructured material, such as white noise or random tonal sequences. Electroencephalography (EEG) research revealed a characteristic negative potential to periodically recurring auditory patterns - a response, which has been interpreted as memory trace-related and specific, rather than as a sign of periodicity-driven entrainment. Here, we aim to disentangle these two possible contributions by investigating the influence of a periodic sound sequence's inherent temporal regularity on event-related potentials. Participants were presented continuous sequences of short tones of random pitch, with some sequences containing a recurring pattern, and asked to indicate whether they heard a repetition. Patterns were either spaced equally across the random sequence (isochronous condition) or with a temporal jitter (jittered condition), which enabled us to differentiate between event-related potentials (and thus processing operations associated with a memory trace for a repeated pattern) and the periodic nature of the repetitions. A negative recurrence-related component could be observed independently of temporal regularity, was pattern-specific, and modulated by across trial repetition of the pattern. Critically, isochronous pattern repetition induced an additional early periodicity-related positive component, which started to build up already before the pattern onset and which was elicited undampedly even when the repeated pattern was occasionally not presented. This positive component likely reflects a sensory driven entrainment process that could be the foundation of a behavioural benefit in detecting temporally regular repetitions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice Hodapp
- Institute of Psychology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Psychology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Sabine Grimm
- Institute of Psychology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
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21
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Simal A, Bermudez P, Lefebvre C, Vachon F, Jolicœur P. Signal informativeness for sequence structure modulates human auditory cortical responses. Psychophysiology 2020; 58:e13745. [PMID: 33314147 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13745] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2019] [Revised: 11/09/2020] [Accepted: 11/18/2020] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
We observed how information about the structure of tone sequences modulates cortical responses in the context of a standard short-term memory (STM) task. Participants heard two sequences of one, three, or five tones (203 ms on, 203 ms off) interspersed by a silent interval (2 s) and decided whether the sequences were the same or different. In experiment 1, sequence length was randomized between trials. During the first sequence, the amplitude of the auditory P2 was larger for the second tone in trials with three tones, and for the second and fourth tone in trials with five tones. We hypothesize the increase in P2 reflected a dynamic disambiguation process because these tones were predictive of a sequence longer than one or three tones. This hypothesis was supported by the absence of P2 amplitude modulation during the second sequence (when sequence length was known). In experiment 2, we blocked trials by sequence length to ensure the effects were not caused by some process related to encoding in STM. There was no P2 amplitude modulation in either the first or second sequences. Thus, tones 2 and 4 had a larger amplitude only when they provided new information about the length of the current tone sequence. To some extent, the auditory N1 also showed those modulations. Independent Component Analysis of the ERPs provided evidence the modulations in P2 amplitude could originate in auditory cortex. These results suggest a rapid dynamic adaptation of auditory cortical responses based on the local informativeness of auditory signals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amour Simal
- Département de psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.,Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.,Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Patrick Bermudez
- Département de psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.,Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Christine Lefebvre
- Département de psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.,Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.,Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | | | - Pierre Jolicœur
- Département de psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.,Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS), Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.,Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
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22
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Gurariy G, Randall R, Greenberg AS. Manipulation of low-level features modulates grouping strength of auditory objects. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2020; 85:2256-2270. [PMID: 32691138 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-020-01391-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2019] [Accepted: 07/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
A central challenge of auditory processing involves the segregation, analysis, and integration of acoustic information into auditory perceptual objects for processing by higher order cognitive operations. This study explores the influence of low-level features on auditory object perception. Participants provided perceived musicality ratings in response to randomly generated pure tone sequences. Previous work has shown that music perception relies on the integration of discrete sounds into a holistic structure. Hence, high (versus low) ratings were viewed as indicative of strong (versus weak) object formation. Additionally, participants rated sequences in which random subsets of tones were manipulated along one of three low-level dimensions (timbre, amplitude, or fade-in) at one of three strengths (low, medium, or high). Our primary findings demonstrate how low-level acoustic features modulate the perception of auditory objects, as measured by changes in musicality ratings for manipulated sequences. Secondarily, we used principal component analysis to categorize participants into subgroups based on differential sensitivities to low-level auditory dimensions, thereby highlighting the importance of individual differences in auditory perception. Finally, we report asymmetries regarding the effects of low-level dimensions; specifically, the perceptual significance of timbre. Together, these data contribute to our understanding of how low-level auditory features modulate auditory object perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gennadiy Gurariy
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Medical College of Wisconsin & Marquette University, Milwaukee, USA
| | - Richard Randall
- School of Music and Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA.
| | - Adam S Greenberg
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Medical College of Wisconsin & Marquette University, Milwaukee, USA
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23
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Szalárdy O, Tóth B, Farkas D, Orosz G, Honbolygó F, Winkler I. Linguistic predictability influences auditory stimulus classification within two concurrent speech streams. Psychophysiology 2020; 57:e13547. [DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13547] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2019] [Revised: 01/20/2020] [Accepted: 01/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Orsolya Szalárdy
- Faculty of Medicine Institute of Behavioural Sciences Semmelweis University Budapest Hungary
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology Research Centre for Natural Sciences Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest Hungary
| | - Brigitta Tóth
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology Research Centre for Natural Sciences Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest Hungary
| | - Dávid Farkas
- Analytics Development, Performance Management and Analytics, Business Development, Integrated Supply Chain Management, Nokia Business Services, Nokia Operations, Nokia Budapest Hungary
| | - Gábor Orosz
- Department of Psychology Stanford University Stanford CA USA
| | - Ferenc Honbolygó
- Brain Imaging Centre Research Centre for Natural Sciences Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest Hungary
- Institute of Psychology ELTE Eötvös Loránd University Budapest Hungary
| | - István Winkler
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology Research Centre for Natural Sciences Hungarian Academy of Sciences Budapest Hungary
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24
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Norman LJ, Thaler L. Stimulus uncertainty affects perception in human echolocation: Timing, level, and spectrum. J Exp Psychol Gen 2020; 149:2314-2331. [PMID: 32324025 PMCID: PMC7727089 DOI: 10.1037/xge0000775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The human brain may use recent sensory experience to create sensory templates that are then compared to incoming sensory input, that is, "knowing what to listen for." This can lead to greater perceptual sensitivity, as long as the relevant properties of the target stimulus can be reliably estimated from past sensory experiences. Echolocation is an auditory skill probably best understood in bats, but humans can also echolocate. Here we investigated for the first time whether echolocation in humans involves the use of sensory templates derived from recent sensory experiences. Our results showed that when there was certainty in the acoustic properties of the echo relative to the emission, either in temporal onset, spectral content or level, people detected the echo more accurately than when there was uncertainty. In addition, we found that people were more accurate when the emission's spectral content was certain but, surprisingly, not when either its level or temporal onset was certain. Importantly, the lack of an effect of temporal onset of the emission is counter to that found previously for tasks using nonecholocation sounds, suggesting that the underlying mechanisms might be different for echolocation and nonecholocation sounds. Importantly, the effects of stimulus certainty were no different for people with and without experience in echolocation, suggesting that stimulus-specific sensory templates can be used in a skill that people have never used before. From an applied perspective our results suggest that echolocation instruction should encourage users to make clicks that are similar to one another in their spectral content. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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25
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Rajendran VG, Harper NS, Schnupp JWH. Auditory cortical representation of music favours the perceived beat. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2020; 7:191194. [PMID: 32269783 PMCID: PMC7137933 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.191194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2019] [Accepted: 02/03/2020] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
Previous research has shown that musical beat perception is a surprisingly complex phenomenon involving widespread neural coordination across higher-order sensory, motor and cognitive areas. However, the question of how low-level auditory processing must necessarily shape these dynamics, and therefore perception, is not well understood. Here, we present evidence that the auditory cortical representation of music, even in the absence of motor or top-down activations, already favours the beat that will be perceived. Extracellular firing rates in the rat auditory cortex were recorded in response to 20 musical excerpts diverse in tempo and genre, for which musical beat perception had been characterized by the tapping behaviour of 40 human listeners. We found that firing rates in the rat auditory cortex were on average higher on the beat than off the beat. This 'neural emphasis' distinguished the beat that was perceived from other possible interpretations of the beat, was predictive of the degree of tapping consensus across human listeners, and was accounted for by a spectrotemporal receptive field model. These findings strongly suggest that the 'bottom-up' processing of music performed by the auditory system predisposes the timing and clarity of the perceived musical beat.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vani G. Rajendran
- Auditory Neuroscience Group, Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
| | - Nicol S. Harper
- Auditory Neuroscience Group, Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Jan W. H. Schnupp
- Auditory Neuroscience Group, Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
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26
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Bouwer FL, Honing H, Slagter HA. Beat-based and Memory-based Temporal Expectations in Rhythm: Similar Perceptual Effects, Different Underlying Mechanisms. J Cogn Neurosci 2020; 32:1221-1241. [PMID: 31933432 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Predicting the timing of incoming information allows the brain to optimize information processing in dynamic environments. Behaviorally, temporal expectations have been shown to facilitate processing of events at expected time points, such as sounds that coincide with the beat in musical rhythm. Yet, temporal expectations can develop based on different forms of structure in the environment, not just the regularity afforded by a musical beat. Little is still known about how different types of temporal expectations are neurally implemented and affect performance. Here, we orthogonally manipulated the periodicity and predictability of rhythmic sequences to examine the mechanisms underlying beat-based and memory-based temporal expectations, respectively. Behaviorally and using EEG, we looked at the effects of beat-based and memory-based expectations on auditory processing when rhythms were task-relevant or task-irrelevant. At expected time points, both beat-based and memory-based expectations facilitated target detection and led to attenuation of P1 and N1 responses, even when expectations were task-irrelevant (unattended). For beat-based expectations, we additionally found reduced target detection and enhanced N1 responses for events at unexpected time points (e.g., off-beat), regardless of the presence of memory-based expectations or task relevance. This latter finding supports the notion that periodicity selectively induces rhythmic fluctuations in neural excitability and furthermore indicates that, although beat-based and memory-based expectations may similarly affect auditory processing of expected events, their underlying neural mechanisms may be different.
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27
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Auksztulewicz R, Myers NE, Schnupp JW, Nobre AC. Rhythmic Temporal Expectation Boosts Neural Activity by Increasing Neural Gain. J Neurosci 2019; 39:9806-9817. [PMID: 31662425 PMCID: PMC6891052 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0925-19.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2019] [Revised: 09/12/2019] [Accepted: 09/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Temporal orienting improves sensory processing, akin to other top-down biases. However, it is unknown whether these improvements reflect increased neural gain to any stimuli presented at expected time points, or specific tuning to task-relevant stimulus aspects. Furthermore, while other top-down biases are selective, the extent of trade-offs across time is less well characterized. Here, we tested whether gain and/or tuning of auditory frequency processing in humans is modulated by rhythmic temporal expectations, and whether these modulations are specific to time points relevant for task performance. Healthy participants (N = 23) of either sex performed an auditory discrimination task while their brain activity was measured using magnetoencephalography/electroencephalography (M/EEG). Acoustic stimulation consisted of sequences of brief distractors interspersed with targets, presented in a rhythmic or jittered way. Target rhythmicity not only improved behavioral discrimination accuracy and M/EEG-based decoding of targets, but also of irrelevant distractors preceding these targets. To explain this finding in terms of increased sensitivity and/or sharpened tuning to auditory frequency, we estimated tuning curves based on M/EEG decoding results, with separate parameters describing gain and sharpness. The effect of rhythmic expectation on distractor decoding was linked to gain increase only, suggesting increased neural sensitivity to any stimuli presented at relevant time points.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Being able to predict when an event may happen can improve perception and action related to this event, likely due to the alignment of neural activity to the temporal structure of stimulus streams. However, it is unclear whether rhythmic increases in neural sensitivity are specific to task-relevant targets, and whether they competitively impair stimulus processing at unexpected time points. By combining magnetoencephalography and encephalographic recordings, neural decoding of auditory stimulus features, and modeling, we found that rhythmic expectation improved neural decoding of both relevant targets and irrelevant distractors presented and expected time points, but did not competitively impair stimulus processing at unexpected time points. Using a quantitative model, these results were linked to nonspecific neural gain increases due to rhythmic expectation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryszard Auksztulewicz
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China,
- Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, 60322 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, United Kingdom, and
| | - Nicholas E Myers
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, United Kingdom, and
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7JX, United Kingdom
| | - Jan W Schnupp
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China
| | - Anna C Nobre
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, United Kingdom, and
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7JX, United Kingdom
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28
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Herbst SK, Obleser J. Implicit temporal predictability enhances pitch discrimination sensitivity and biases the phase of delta oscillations in auditory cortex. Neuroimage 2019; 203:116198. [PMID: 31539590 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116198] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2019] [Revised: 08/23/2019] [Accepted: 09/14/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Can human listeners use implicit temporal contingencies in auditory input to form temporal predictions, and if so, how are these predictions represented endogenously? To assess this question, we implicitly manipulated temporal predictability in an auditory pitch discrimination task: unbeknownst to participants, the pitch of the standard tone could either be deterministically predictive of the temporal onset of the target tone, or convey no predictive information. Predictive and non-predictive conditions were presented interleaved in one stream, and separated by variable inter-stimulus intervals such that there was no dominant stimulus rhythm throughout. Even though participants were unaware of the implicit temporal contingencies, pitch discrimination sensitivity (the slope of the psychometric function) increased when the onset of the target tone was predictable in time (N = 49, 28 female, 21 male). Concurrently recorded EEG data (N = 24) revealed that standard tones that conveyed temporal predictions evoked a more negative N1 component than non-predictive standards. We observed no significant differences in oscillatory power or phase coherence between conditions during the foreperiod. Importantly, the phase angle of delta oscillations (1-3 Hz) in auditory areas in the post-standard and pre-target time windows predicted behavioral pitch discrimination sensitivity. This suggests that temporal predictions are encoded in delta oscillatory phase during the foreperiod interval. In sum, we show that auditory perception benefits from implicit temporal contingencies, and provide evidence for a role of slow neural oscillations in the endogenous representation of temporal predictions, in absence of exogenously driven entrainment to rhythmic input.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie K Herbst
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23552, Lübeck, Germany; NeuroSpin, CEA, DRF/Joliot; INSERM Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit; Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay; Bât 145Gif s/ Yvette, 91190 France.
| | - Jonas Obleser
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23552, Lübeck, Germany
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Ten Oever S, Sack AT. Interactions Between Rhythmic and Feature Predictions to Create Parallel Time-Content Associations. Front Neurosci 2019; 13:791. [PMID: 31427917 PMCID: PMC6688653 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.00791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2019] [Accepted: 07/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The brain is inherently proactive, constantly predicting the when (moment) and what (content) of future input in order to optimize information processing. Previous research on such predictions has mainly studied the "when" or "what" domain separately, missing to investigate the potential integration of both types of predictive information. In the absence of such integration, temporal cues are assumed to enhance any upcoming content at the predicted moment in time (general temporal predictor). However, if the when and what prediction domain were integrated, a much more flexible neural mechanism may be proposed in which temporal-feature interactions would allow for the creation of multiple concurrent time-content predictions (parallel time-content predictor). Here, we used a temporal association paradigm in two experiments in which sound identity was systematically paired with a specific time delay after the offset of a rhythmic visual input stream. In Experiment 1, we revealed that participants associated the time delay of presentation with the identity of the sound. In Experiment 2, we unexpectedly found that the strength of this temporal association was negatively related to the EEG steady-state evoked responses (SSVEP) in preceding trials, showing that after high neuronal responses participants responded inconsistent with the time-content associations, similar to adaptation mechanisms. In this experiment, time-content associations were only present for low SSVEP responses in previous trials. These results tentatively show that it is possible to represent multiple time-content paired predictions in parallel, however, future research is needed to investigate this interaction further.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sanne Ten Oever
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands.,Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Alexander T Sack
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands.,Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre, Maastricht, Netherlands
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Jones A, Ward EV. Rhythmic Temporal Structure at Encoding Enhances Recognition Memory. J Cogn Neurosci 2019; 31:1549-1562. [PMID: 31172861 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01431] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Presenting events in a rhythm has been shown to enhance perception and facilitate responses for stimuli that appear in synchrony with the rhythm, but little is known about how rhythm during encoding influences later recognition. In this study, participants were presented with images of everyday objects in an encoding phase before a recognition task in which they judged whether or not objects were previously presented. Blockwise, object presentation during encoding followed either a rhythmic (constant, predictable) or arrhythmic (random, unpredictable) temporal structure, of which participants were unaware. Recognition was greater for items presented in a rhythmic relative to an arrhythmic manner. During encoding, there was a differential neural activity based on memory effect with larger positivity for rhythmic over arrhythmic stimuli. At recognition, memory-specific ERP components were differentially affected by temporal structure: The FN400 old/new effect was unaffected by rhythmic structure, whereas the late positive component old/new effect was observed only for rhythmically encoded items. Taken together, this study provides new evidence that memory-specific processing at recognition is affected by temporal structure at encoding.
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Abstract
Recently, performance magic has become a source of insight into the processes underlying awareness. Magicians have highlighted a set of variables that can create moments of visual attentional suppression, which they call "off-beats." One of these variables is akin to the phenomenon psychologists know as attentional entrainment. The current experiments, inspired by performance magic, explore the extent to which entrainment can occur across sensory modalities. Across two experiments using a difficult dot probe detection task, we find that the mere presence of an auditory rhythm can bias when visual attention is deployed, speeding responses to stimuli appearing in phase with the rhythm. However, the extent of this cross-modal influence is moderated by factors such as the speed of the entrainers and whether their frequency is increasing or decreasing. In Experiment 1, entrainment occurred for rhythms presented at .67 Hz, but not at 1.5 Hz. In Experiment 2, entrainment only occurred for rhythms that were slowing from 1.5 Hz to .67 Hz, not speeding. The results of these experiments challenge current models of temporal attention.
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32
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Castellucci GA, Calbick D, McCormick D. The temporal organization of mouse ultrasonic vocalizations. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0199929. [PMID: 30376572 PMCID: PMC6207298 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0199929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2018] [Accepted: 06/15/2018] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
House mice, like many tetrapods, produce multielement calls consisting of individual vocalizations repeated in rhythmic series. In this study, we examine the multielement ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) of adult male C57Bl/6J mice and specifically assess their temporal properties and organization. We found that male mice produce two classes of USVs which display unique temporal features and arise from discrete respiratory patterns. We also observed that nearly all USVs were produced in repetitive series exhibiting a hierarchical organization and a stereotyped rhythmic structure. Furthermore, series rhythmicity alone was determined to be sufficient for the mathematical discrimination of USVs produced by adult males, adult females, and pups, underscoring the known importance of call timing in USV perception. Finally, the gross spectrotemporal features of male USVs were found to develop continuously from birth and stabilize by P50, suggesting that USV production in infants and adults relies on common biological mechanisms. In conclusion, we demonstrate that the temporal organization of multielement mouse USVs is both stable and informative, and we propose that call timing be explicitly assessed when examining mouse USV production. Furthermore, this is the first report of putative USV classes arising from distinct articulatory patterns in mice, and is the first to empirically define multielement USV series and provide a detailed description of their temporal structure and development. This study therefore represents an important point of reference for the analysis of mouse USVs, a commonly used metric of social behavior in mouse models of human disease, and furthers the understanding of vocalization production in an accessible mammalian species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregg A. Castellucci
- Neuroscience Institute, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States of America
- Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, United States of America
- Department of Genetics, Yale University of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - Daniel Calbick
- Department of Genetics, Yale University of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - David McCormick
- Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States of America
- Department of Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States of America
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García-Rosales F, Martin LM, Beetz MJ, Cabral-Calderin Y, Kössl M, Hechavarria JC. Low-Frequency Spike-Field Coherence Is a Fingerprint of Periodicity Coding in the Auditory Cortex. iScience 2018; 9:47-62. [PMID: 30384133 PMCID: PMC6214842 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2018.10.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2017] [Revised: 06/20/2018] [Accepted: 10/10/2018] [Indexed: 11/04/2022] Open
Abstract
The extraction of temporal information from sensory input streams is of paramount importance in the auditory system. In this study, amplitude-modulated sounds were used as stimuli to drive auditory cortex (AC) neurons of the bat species Carollia perspicillata, to assess the interactions between cortical spikes and local-field potentials (LFPs) for the processing of temporal acoustic cues. We observed that neurons in the AC capable of eliciting synchronized spiking to periodic acoustic envelopes were significantly more coherent to theta- and alpha-band LFPs than their non-synchronized counterparts. These differences occurred independently of the modulation rate tested and could not be explained by power or phase modulations of the field potentials. We argue that the coupling between neuronal spiking and the phase of low-frequency LFPs might be important for orchestrating the coding of temporal acoustic structures in the AC. Auditory cortical neurons can track periodic sounds via synchronized spiking Neuronal synchronization ability is well marked by theta-alpha spike-LFP coherence Spike-LFP coherence patterns are independent of the stimulus' periodicity Theta-alpha LFPs may orchestrate phase-locked neuronal responses to periodic sounds
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Affiliation(s)
- Francisco García-Rosales
- Institut für Zellbiologie und Neurowissenschaft, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
| | - Lisa M Martin
- Institut für Zellbiologie und Neurowissenschaft, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - M Jerome Beetz
- Institut für Zellbiologie und Neurowissenschaft, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Yuranny Cabral-Calderin
- MEG Labor, Brain Imaging Center, Goethe-Universität, 60528 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; German Resilience Center, University Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Manfred Kössl
- Institut für Zellbiologie und Neurowissenschaft, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Julio C Hechavarria
- Institut für Zellbiologie und Neurowissenschaft, Goethe-Universität, Max-von-Laue-Str. 13, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
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Temporal expectancies and rhythmic cueing in touch: The influence of spatial attention. Cognition 2018; 182:140-150. [PMID: 30248473 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.09.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2018] [Revised: 09/12/2018] [Accepted: 09/15/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Attention resources can be allocated in both space and time. Exogenous temporal attention can be driven by rhythmic events in our environment which automatically entrain periods of attention. Temporal expectancies can also be generated by the elapse of time, leading to foreperiod effects (the longer between a cue and imperative target, the faster the response). This study investigates temporal attention in touch and the influence of spatial orienting. In experiment 1, participants used bilateral tactile cues to orient endogenous spatial attention to the left or right hand where a unilateral tactile target was presented. This facilitated response times for attended over unattended targets. In experiment 2, the cue was unilateral and non-predictive of the target location resulting in inhibition of return. Importantly, the cue was rhythmic and targets were presented early, in synchrony or late in relation to the rhythmic cue. A foreperiod effect was observed in experiment 1 that was independent from any spatial attention effects. In experiment 2, in synchrony were slower compared to out of synchrony targets but only for cued and not uncued targets, suggesting the rhythm generates periods of exogenous inhibition. Taken together, temporal and spatial attention interact in touch, but only when both types of attention are exogenous. If the task requires endogenous spatial orienting, space and time are independent.
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35
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Wollman I, Morillon B. Organizational principles of multidimensional predictions in human auditory attention. Sci Rep 2018; 8:13466. [PMID: 30194376 PMCID: PMC6128843 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-31878-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2018] [Accepted: 08/17/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Anticipating the future rests upon our ability to exploit contextual cues and to formulate valid internal models or predictions. It is currently unknown how multiple predictions combine to bias perceptual information processing, and in particular whether this is determined by physiological constraints, behavioral relevance (task demands), or past knowledge (perceptual expertise). In a series of behavioral auditory experiments involving musical experts and non-musicians, we investigated the respective and combined contribution of temporal and spectral predictions in multiple detection tasks. We show that temporal and spectral predictions alone systematically increase perceptual sensitivity, independently of task demands or expertise. When combined, however, spectral predictions benefit more to non-musicians and dominate over temporal ones, and the extent of the spectrotemporal synergistic interaction depends on task demands. This suggests that the hierarchy of dominance primarily reflects the tonotopic organization of the auditory system and that expertise or attention only have a secondary modulatory influence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Indiana Wollman
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
- CIRMMT, Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
| | - Benjamin Morillon
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
- Aix Marseille Univ, Inserm, INS, Inst Neurosci Syst, Marseille, France.
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36
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Aggelopoulos NC, Deike S, Selezneva E, Scheich H, Brechmann A, Brosch M. Predictive cues for auditory stream formation in humans and monkeys. Eur J Neurosci 2017; 51:1254-1264. [PMID: 29250854 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.13808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2017] [Revised: 12/12/2017] [Accepted: 12/12/2017] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Auditory perception is improved when stimuli are predictable, and this effect is evident in a modulation of the activity of neurons in the auditory cortex as shown previously. Human listeners can better predict the presence of duration deviants embedded in stimulus streams with fixed interonset interval (isochrony) and repeated duration pattern (regularity), and neurons in the auditory cortex of macaque monkeys have stronger sustained responses in the 60-140 ms post-stimulus time window under these conditions. Subsequently, the question has arisen whether isochrony or regularity in the sensory input contributed to the enhancement of the neuronal and behavioural responses. Therefore, we varied the two factors isochrony and regularity independently and measured the ability of human subjects to detect deviants embedded in these sequences as well as measuring the responses of neurons the primary auditory cortex of macaque monkeys during presentations of the sequences. The performance of humans in detecting deviants was significantly increased by regularity. Isochrony enhanced detection only in the presence of the regularity cue. In monkeys, regularity increased the sustained component of neuronal tone responses in auditory cortex while isochrony had no consistent effect. Although both regularity and isochrony can be considered as parameters that would make a sequence of sounds more predictable, our results from the human and monkey experiments converge in that regularity has a greater influence on behavioural performance and neuronal responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nikolaos C Aggelopoulos
- Special Lab of Primate Neurobiology, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Brenneckestr. 6, 39118, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Susann Deike
- Special Lab Non-invasive Brain Imaging, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Elena Selezneva
- Special Lab of Primate Neurobiology, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Brenneckestr. 6, 39118, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Henning Scheich
- Emeritus Group Lifelong Learning, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany.,Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - André Brechmann
- Special Lab Non-invasive Brain Imaging, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany.,Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Michael Brosch
- Special Lab of Primate Neurobiology, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Brenneckestr. 6, 39118, Magdeburg, Germany.,Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg, Germany
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37
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38
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Rajendran VG, Teki S, Schnupp JWH. Temporal Processing in Audition: Insights from Music. Neuroscience 2017; 389:4-18. [PMID: 29108832 PMCID: PMC6371985 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.10.041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2017] [Revised: 10/24/2017] [Accepted: 10/27/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
What music psychology reveals about the natural bounds of human temporal processing. Psychoacoustics of beat perception. Neurophysiology of beat perception. Predictable timing in auditory perception. Neural mechanisms of timing.
Music is a curious example of a temporally patterned acoustic stimulus, and a compelling pan-cultural phenomenon. This review strives to bring some insights from decades of music psychology and sensorimotor synchronization (SMS) literature into the mainstream auditory domain, arguing that musical rhythm perception is shaped in important ways by temporal processing mechanisms in the brain. The feature that unites these disparate disciplines is an appreciation of the central importance of timing, sequencing, and anticipation. Perception of musical rhythms relies on an ability to form temporal predictions, a general feature of temporal processing that is equally relevant to auditory scene analysis, pattern detection, and speech perception. By bringing together findings from the music and auditory literature, we hope to inspire researchers to look beyond the conventions of their respective fields and consider the cross-disciplinary implications of studying auditory temporal sequence processing. We begin by highlighting music as an interesting sound stimulus that may provide clues to how temporal patterning in sound drives perception. Next, we review the SMS literature and discuss possible neural substrates for the perception of, and synchronization to, musical beat. We then move away from music to explore the perceptual effects of rhythmic timing in pattern detection, auditory scene analysis, and speech perception. Finally, we review the neurophysiology of general timing processes that may underlie aspects of the perception of rhythmic patterns. We conclude with a brief summary and outlook for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vani G Rajendran
- Auditory Neuroscience Group, University of Oxford, Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics, Oxford, UK
| | - Sundeep Teki
- Auditory Neuroscience Group, University of Oxford, Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics, Oxford, UK
| | - Jan W H Schnupp
- City University of Hong Kong, Department of Biomedical Sciences, 31 To Yuen Street, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong.
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39
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Temporal expectancies driven by self- and externally generated rhythms. Neuroimage 2017; 156:352-362. [PMID: 28528848 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.05.042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2017] [Revised: 05/15/2017] [Accepted: 05/17/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The dynamic attending theory proposes that rhythms entrain periodic fluctuations of attention which modulate the gain of sensory input. However, temporal expectancies can also be driven by the mere passage of time (foreperiod effect). It is currently unknown how these two types of temporal expectancy relate to each other, i.e. whether they work in parallel and have distinguishable neural signatures. The current research addresses this issue. Participants either tapped a 1Hz rhythm (active task) or were passively presented with the same rhythm using tactile stimulators (passive task). Based on this rhythm an auditory target was then presented early, in synchrony, or late. Behavioural results were in line with the dynamic attending theory as RTs were faster for in- compared to out-of-synchrony targets. Electrophysiological results suggested self-generated and externally induced rhythms to entrain neural oscillations in the delta frequency band. Auditory ERPs showed evidence of two distinct temporal expectancy processes. Both tasks demonstrated a pattern which followed a linear foreperiod effect. In the active task, however, we also observed an ERP effect consistent with the dynamic attending theory. This study shows that temporal expectancies generated by a rhythm and expectancy generated by the mere passage of time can work in parallel and sheds light on how these mechanisms are implemented in the brain.
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40
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Kizuk SAD, Mathewson KE. Power and Phase of Alpha Oscillations Reveal an Interaction between Spatial and Temporal Visual Attention. J Cogn Neurosci 2016; 29:480-494. [PMID: 28129063 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Oscillatory brain rhythms can bias attention via phase and amplitude changes, which modulate sensory activity, biasing information to be processed or ignored. Alpha band (7-14 Hz) oscillations lateralize with spatial attention and rhythmically inhibit visual activity and awareness through pulses of inhibition. Here we show that human observers' awareness of spatially unattended targets is dependent on both alpha power and alpha phase at target onset. Following a predictive directional cue, alpha oscillations were entrained bilaterally using repetitive visual stimuli. Subsequently, we presented either spatially cued or uncued targets at SOAs either validly or invalidly predicted in time by the entrainers. Temporal validity maximally modulated perceptual performance outside the spatial focus of attention and was associated with both increased alpha power and increased neural entrainment of phase in the hemisphere processing spatially unattended information. The results demonstrate that alpha oscillations represent a pulsating inhibition, which impedes visual processing for unattended space.
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41
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Norton P, Scharff C. "Bird Song Metronomics": Isochronous Organization of Zebra Finch Song Rhythm. Front Neurosci 2016; 10:309. [PMID: 27458334 PMCID: PMC4934119 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2016.00309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2016] [Accepted: 06/20/2016] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The human capacity for speech and vocal music depends on vocal imitation. Songbirds, in contrast to non-human primates, share this vocal production learning with humans. The process through which birds and humans learn many of their vocalizations as well as the underlying neural system exhibit a number of striking parallels and have been widely researched. In contrast, rhythm, a key feature of language, and music, has received surprisingly little attention in songbirds. Investigating temporal periodicity in bird song has the potential to inform the relationship between neural mechanisms and behavioral output and can also provide insight into the biology and evolution of musicality. Here we present a method to analyze birdsong for an underlying rhythmic regularity. Using the intervals from one note onset to the next as input, we found for each bird an isochronous sequence of time stamps, a “signal-derived pulse,” or pulseS, of which a subset aligned with all note onsets of the bird's song. Fourier analysis corroborated these results. To determine whether this finding was just a byproduct of the duration of notes and intervals typical for zebra finches but not dependent on the individual duration of elements and the sequence in which they are sung, we compared natural songs to models of artificial songs. Note onsets of natural song deviated from the pulseS significantly less than those of artificial songs with randomized note and gap durations. Thus, male zebra finch song has the regularity required for a listener to extract a perceived pulse (pulseP), as yet untested. Strikingly, in our study, pulsesS that best fit note onsets often also coincided with the transitions between sub-note elements within complex notes, corresponding to neuromuscular gestures. Gesture durations often equaled one or more pulseS periods. This suggests that gesture duration constitutes the basic element of the temporal hierarchy of zebra finch song rhythm, an interesting parallel to the hierarchically structured components of regular rhythms in human music.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philipp Norton
- AG Verhaltensbiologie, Freie Universität Berlin Berlin, Germany
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42
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Abstract
Predicting not only what will happen, but also when it will happen is extremely helpful for optimizing perception and action. Temporal predictions driven by periodic stimulation increase perceptual sensitivity and reduce response latencies. At the neurophysiological level, a single mechanism has been proposed to mediate this twofold behavioral improvement: the rhythmic entrainment of slow cortical oscillations to the stimulation rate. However, temporal regularities can occur in aperiodic contexts, suggesting that temporal predictions per se may be dissociable from entrainment to periodic sensory streams. We investigated this possibility in two behavioral experiments, asking human participants to detect near-threshold auditory tones embedded in streams whose temporal and spectral properties were manipulated. While our findings confirm that periodic stimulation reduces response latencies, in agreement with the hypothesis of a stimulus-driven entrainment of neural excitability, they further reveal that this motor facilitation can be dissociated from the enhancement of auditory sensitivity. Perceptual sensitivity improvement is unaffected by the nature of temporal regularities (periodic vs aperiodic), but contingent on the co-occurrence of a fulfilled spectral prediction. Altogether, the dissociation between predictability and periodicity demonstrates that distinct mechanisms flexibly and synergistically operate to facilitate perception and action.
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43
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Abstract
Human perception fluctuates with the phase of neural oscillations in the presence of environmental rhythmic structure by which neural oscillations become entrained. However, in the absence of predictability afforded by rhythmic structure, we hypothesize that the neural dynamical states associated with optimal psychophysical performance are more complex than what has been described previously for rhythmic stimuli. The current electroencephalography study characterized the brain dynamics associated with optimal detection of gaps embedded in narrow-band acoustic noise stimuli lacking low-frequency rhythmic structure. Optimal gap detection was associated with three spectrotemporally distinct delta-governed neural microstates. Individual microstates were characterized by unique instantaneous combinations of neural phase in the delta, theta, and alpha frequency bands. Critically, gap detection was not predictable from local fluctuations in stimulus acoustics. The current results suggest that, in the absence of rhythmic structure to entrain neural oscillations, good performance hinges on complex neural states that vary from moment to moment. Significance statement: Our ability to hear faint sounds fluctuates together with slow brain activity that synchronizes with environmental rhythms. However, it is so far not known how brain activity at different time scales might interact to influence perception when there is no rhythm with which brain activity can synchronize. Here, we used electroencephalography to measure brain activity while participants listened for short silences that interrupted ongoing noise. We examined brain activity in three different frequency bands: delta, theta, and alpha. Participants' ability to detect gaps depended on different numbers of frequency bands--sometimes one, sometimes two, and sometimes three--at different times. Changes in the number of frequency bands that predict perception are a hallmark of a complex neural system.
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44
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Rajendran VG, Harper NS, Abdel-Latif KHA, Schnupp JWH. Rhythm Facilitates the Detection of Repeating Sound Patterns. Front Neurosci 2016; 10:9. [PMID: 26858589 PMCID: PMC4731741 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2016.00009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2015] [Accepted: 01/11/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
This study investigates the influence of temporal regularity on human listeners' ability to detect a repeating noise pattern embedded in statistically identical non-repeating noise. Human listeners were presented with white noise stimuli that either contained a frozen segment of noise that repeated in a temporally regular or irregular manner, or did not contain any repetition at all. Subjects were instructed to respond as soon as they detected any repetition in the stimulus. Pattern detection performance was best when repeated targets occurred in a temporally regular manner, suggesting that temporal regularity plays a facilitative role in pattern detection. A modulation filterbank model could account for these results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vani G Rajendran
- Auditory Neuroscience Group, Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics, University of Oxford Oxford, UK
| | - Nicol S Harper
- Auditory Neuroscience Group, Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics, University of Oxford Oxford, UK
| | - Khaled H A Abdel-Latif
- Auditory Neuroscience Group, Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics, University of Oxford Oxford, UK
| | - Jan W H Schnupp
- Auditory Neuroscience Group, Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics, University of Oxford Oxford, UK
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Temporal expectations and neural amplitude fluctuations in auditory cortex interactively influence perception. Neuroimage 2015; 124:487-497. [PMID: 26386347 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.09.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2015] [Revised: 08/07/2015] [Accepted: 09/09/2015] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Alignment of neural oscillations with temporally regular input allows listeners to generate temporal expectations. However, it remains unclear how behavior is governed in the context of temporal variability: What role do temporal expectations play, and how do they interact with the strength of neural oscillatory activity? Here, human participants detected near-threshold targets in temporally variable acoustic sequences. Temporal expectation strength was estimated using an oscillator model and pre-target neural amplitudes in auditory cortex were extracted from magnetoencephalography signals. Temporal expectations modulated target-detection performance, however, only when neural delta-band amplitudes were large. Thus, slow neural oscillations act to gate influences of temporal expectation on perception. Furthermore, slow amplitude fluctuations governed linear and quadratic influences of auditory alpha-band activity on performance. By fusing a model of temporal expectation with neural oscillatory dynamics, the current findings show that human perception in temporally variable contexts relies on complex interactions between multiple neural frequency bands.
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Wilsch A, Henry MJ, Herrmann B, Maess B, Obleser J. Slow-delta phase concentration marks improved temporal expectations based on the passage of time. Psychophysiology 2015; 52:910-8. [DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12413] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2014] [Accepted: 12/10/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Anna Wilsch
- Max Planck Research Group “Auditory Cognition”, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences; Leipzig Germany
| | - Molly J. Henry
- Max Planck Research Group “Auditory Cognition”, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences; Leipzig Germany
| | - Björn Herrmann
- Max Planck Research Group “Auditory Cognition”, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences; Leipzig Germany
| | - Burkhard Maess
- MEG and Cortical Networks, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences; Leipzig Germany
| | - Jonas Obleser
- Max Planck Research Group “Auditory Cognition”, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences; Leipzig Germany
- Department of Psychology; University of Lübeck; Lübeck Germany
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