Processing of spatial sounds in human auditory cortex during visual, discrimination and 2-back tasks

Rinne, Teemu; Ala-Salomäki, Heidi; Stecker, G. Christopher; Pätynen, Jukka; Lokki, Tapio

doi:10.3389/fnins.2014.00220

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(49 reference statements)

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“…Topographically, these results are consistent with the locus of modulations observed during auditory attention (33,40,49) and spatial discrimination tasks (47,60). Despite significant differences in experimental design and analysis, the results reported here defining regional sensitivity to sound location and auditory task processing are strikingly similar to those reported by Häk-kinen et al (43).…”

Section: Spatial Listening Effects On the Cortical Topography Of Binasupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Task blocks were separated by 6 s of rest during which no stimuli were presented. The number of location (60), pitch (60), and visual (45) changes was controlled across the entire run but distributed randomly across trials so that individual blocks were not predictable. Thus, each type of change was presented at a fixed rate throughout the run, the only manipulation being the detection task the participant was cued to perform.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evidence for cue-independent spatial representation in the human auditory cortex during active listening

Higgins

McLaughlin

Rinne

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Few auditory functions are as important or as universal as the capacity for auditory spatial awareness (e.g., sound localization). That ability relies on sensitivity to acoustical cues-particularly interaural time and level differences (ITD and ILD)-that correlate with sound-source locations. Under nonspatial listening conditions, cortical sensitivity to ITD and ILD takes the form of broad contralaterally dominated response functions. It is unknown, however, whether that sensitivity reflects representations of the specific physical cues or a higher-order representation of auditory space (i.e., integrated cue processing), nor is it known whether responses to spatial cues are modulated by active spatial listening. To investigate, sensitivity to parametrically varied ITD or ILD cues was measured using fMRI during spatial and nonspatial listening tasks. Task type varied across blocks where targets were presented in one of three dimensions: auditory location, pitch, or visual brightness. Task effects were localized primarily to lateral posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) and modulated binaural-cue response functions differently in the two hemispheres. Active spatial listening (location tasks) enhanced both contralateral and ipsilateral responses in the right hemisphere but maintained or enhanced contralateral dominance in the left hemisphere. Two observations suggest integrated processing of ITD and ILD. First, overlapping regions in medial pSTG exhibited significant sensitivity to both cues. Second, successful classification of multivoxel patterns was observed for both cue types and-criticallyfor cross-cue classification. Together, these results suggest a higherorder representation of auditory space in the human auditory cortex that at least partly integrates the specific underlying cues.auditory space | binaural cues | human auditory cortex | fMRI | sound localization A cross species, one of the most important functions of hearing is the capacity to localize and orient to sound sources throughout 360°of extrapersonal space. This function relies on the neural processing of a variety of acoustical cues, but particularly on interaural time (ITD) and level differences (ILD) that convey sound-source directions in the horizontal dimension (azimuth). The acoustical basis of these cues is well understood: sound arrives earlier and with greater intensity at the ear nearest the source. The magnitudes of both cues depend systematically on azimuth angle, sound frequency, and head size/shape. Acoustic reflections from surfaces of the outer ear and of the listening room further alter these cues in a frequency-and cuespecific manner.In the absence of echoes and reverberation, ITD and ILD cues vary more or less in parallel (i.e., redundantly) and human listeners appear to use the cues interchangeably. However, ITD is the psychophysically dominant cue for localization when sounds contain energy below ∼1.5 kHz (1-3). For higher-frequency sounds, ILD tends to dominate, although ITD carried by fluctuations in the sound envelope a...

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Section: Spatial Listening Effects On the Cortical Topography Of Binasupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for cue-independent spatial representation in the human auditory cortex during active listening

Higgins

McLaughlin

Rinne

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Second, in our previous studies increasing task difficulty (as indicated by decreasing task performance) in pitch ( Rinne et al, 2009 ) and location ( Rinne et al, 2012 ) discrimination tasks was not associated with strong activation modulations. Together, these results strongly suggest that the present activation differences between discrimination and 2-back tasks are due to specific requirements of these tasks and not due task difficulty as such (see also, Harinen and Rinne, 2014 ; Rinne et al, 2014 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

“…Our previous studies have shown that activations in AC depend on the task so that activations in areas of anterior STG are enhanced during discrimination but not during n-back memory task, whereas activations in posterior STG and IPL are enhanced during n-back but not during discrimination. This anterior–posterior distinction is detected quite similarly when analogous discrimination and n-back tasks are performed on pitch-varying sounds ( Rinne et al, 2009 ), location-varying sounds ( Rinne et al, 2012 , 2014 ), or vowels ( Harinen and Rinne, 2014 ). Thus, it is evident that the main features of these activation patterns are due to characteristics and requirements of the discrimination and n-back tasks and not due to stimulus-dependent processing of pitch, location, or vowel information as such.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Processing of pitch and location in human auditory cortex during visual and auditory tasks

2015

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The relationship between stimulus-dependent and task-dependent activations in human auditory cortex (AC) during pitch and location processing is not well understood. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we investigated the processing of task-irrelevant and task-relevant pitch and location during discrimination, n-back, and visual tasks. We tested three hypotheses: (1) According to prevailing auditory models, stimulus-dependent processing of pitch and location should be associated with enhanced activations in distinct areas of the anterior and posterior superior temporal gyrus (STG), respectively. (2) Based on our previous studies, task-dependent activation patterns during discrimination and n-back tasks should be similar when these tasks are performed on sounds varying in pitch or location. (3) Previous studies in humans and animals suggest that pitch and location tasks should enhance activations especially in those areas that also show activation enhancements associated with stimulus-dependent pitch and location processing, respectively. Consistent with our hypotheses, we found stimulus-dependent sensitivity to pitch and location in anterolateral STG and anterior planum temporale (PT), respectively, in line with the view that these features are processed in separate parallel pathways. Further, task-dependent activations during discrimination and n-back tasks were associated with enhanced activations in anterior/posterior STG and posterior STG/inferior parietal lobule (IPL) irrespective of stimulus features. However, direct comparisons between pitch and location tasks performed on identical sounds revealed no significant activation differences. These results suggest that activations during pitch and location tasks are not strongly affected by enhanced stimulus-dependent activations to pitch or location. We also found that activations in PT were strongly modulated by task requirements and that areas in the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) showed task-dependent activation modulations, but no systematic activations to pitch or location. Based on these results, we argue that activations during pitch and location tasks cannot be explained by enhanced stimulus-specific processing alone, but rather that activations in human AC depend in a complex manner on the requirements of the task at hand.

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“…One ROI was hand drawn in the 2D standard space to cover HG. The PT ROIs were identical to those used in our previous study (Hickok and Saberi, 2012 ; Rinne et al, 2014 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of precision and power grips on activations in human auditory cortex

2015

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The neuroanatomical pathways interconnecting auditory and motor cortices play a key role in current models of human auditory cortex (AC). Evidently, auditory-motor interaction is important in speech and music production, but the significance of these cortical pathways in other auditory processing is not well known. We investigated the general effects of motor responding on AC activations to sounds during auditory and visual tasks (motor regions were not imaged). During all task blocks, subjects detected targets in the designated modality, reported the relative number of targets at the end of the block, and ignored the stimuli presented in the opposite modality. In each block, they were also instructed to respond to targets either using a precision grip, power grip, or to give no overt target responses. We found that motor responding strongly modulated AC activations. First, during both visual and auditory tasks, activations in widespread regions of AC decreased when subjects made precision and power grip responses to targets. Second, activations in AC were modulated by grip type during the auditory but not during the visual task. Further, the motor effects were distinct from the present strong attention-related modulations in AC. These results are consistent with the idea that operations in AC are shaped by its connections with motor cortical regions.

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Processing of spatial sounds in human auditory cortex during visual, discrimination and 2-back tasks

Cited by 5 publications

References 29 publications

Evidence for cue-independent spatial representation in the human auditory cortex during active listening

Evidence for cue-independent spatial representation in the human auditory cortex during active listening

Processing of pitch and location in human auditory cortex during visual and auditory tasks

The effect of precision and power grips on activations in human auditory cortex

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