Hierarchical auditory perception for species discrimination and individual recognition in the music frog

Abstract The ability to discriminate species and recognize individuals is crucial for reproductive success and/or survival in most animals. However, the temporal order and neural localization of these decision-making processes has remained unclear. In this study, event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured in the telencephalon, diencephalon and mesencephalon of the music frog Nidirana daunchina. These ERPs were elicited by calls from one group of heterospecifics (recorded from a sympatric anuran species) and two groups of conspecifics that differed in their fundamental frequencies. In terms of the polarity and position within the ERP waveform, auditory ERPs generally consist of four main components that link to selective attention (N1), stimulus evaluation (P2), identification (N2) and classification (P3). These occur around 100, 200, 250 and 300 ms after stimulus onset, respectively. Our results show that the N1 amplitudes differed significantly between the heterospecific and conspecific calls, but not between the two groups of conspecific calls that differed in fundamental frequency. On the other hand, the N2 amplitudes were significantly different between the two groups of conspecific calls, suggesting that the music frogs discriminated the species first, followed by individual identification, since N1 and N2 relate to selective attention and stimuli identification, respectively. Moreover, the P2 amplitudes evoked in females were significantly greater than those in males, indicating the existence of sexual dimorphism in auditory discrimination. In addition, both the N1 amplitudes in the left diencephalon and the P2 amplitudes in the left telencephalon were greater than in other brain areas, suggesting left hemispheric dominance in auditory perception. Taken together, our results support the hypothesis that species discrimination and identification of individual characteristics are accomplished sequentially, and that auditory perception exhibits differences between sexes and in spatial dominance.

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Reactivity and Event-Related Potentials in Attentional Tests: Effect of Training

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.2002.94.3.817 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 94 (3) ◽

pp. 817-833 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Giuliano Fontani ◽

Leda Lodi

Keyword(s):

Reaction Time ◽

Selective Attention ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Stimulus Onset ◽

Negative Wave ◽

Geometric Figure ◽

Trained Subjects ◽

Geometric Figures ◽

Close Relationship ◽

Related Potentials

To study the effects of training on reactivity and event-related potentials a complex attentional shifting test involving reaction time was administered (Test 1) to 24 healthy, young students. After five days, 12 subjects were tested with the same procedure (Test 2) without training (Untrained Subjects) while 12 repeated the test at the fifth day after four days of training (Trained Subjects). During Tests 1 and 2, event-related potentials were recorded by electroencephalogram. The task consisted of each subject responding to a stimulus of a letter appearing in the centre of a geometric figure on the screen of a computer monitor. In the prestimulus period black points were drawn and crowded randomly into a zone of the screen. The geometric figure and the letter were shown in the centre of the crowding. There were two letters and four geometric figures randomly combined in different ways. The subject had to press different keys of the computer keyboard when specific combinations appeared. The averaged event-related potentials were characterized by a negative wave with a close relationship to selective attention before the onset of the stimulus of a geometric figure followed by letters. After the stimulus onset, a P3 complex was recorded. Trained subjects were no different from untrained subjects in Test 1, while in Test 2 they had a shorter reaction time, an earlier peak of the selective attention related wave and P3, and a higher amplitude for the P3 complex. These measures and the correlations between them can be considered an index of the training effect. Thus, these tests could be used for evaluation of the attentional style and its modification with training.

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Orienting and Focusing in Voluntary and Involuntary Visuospatial Attention Conditions

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803/a000010 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 198-209 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Yan Wang ◽

Jianhui Wu ◽

Shimin Fu ◽

Yuejia Luo

Keyword(s):

Gain Control ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Stimulus Onset ◽

Orientation Discrimination ◽

Involuntary Attention ◽

Attention Condition ◽

Voluntary Attention ◽

Visual Spatial ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Underlying Mechanisms

In the present study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral measurements in a peripherally cued line-orientation discrimination task to investigate the underlying mechanisms of orienting and focusing in voluntary and involuntary attention conditions. Informative peripheral cue (75% valid) with long stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was used in the voluntary attention condition; uninformative peripheral cue (50% valid) with short SOA was used in the involuntary attention condition. Both orienting and focusing were affected by attention type. Results for attention orienting in the voluntary attention condition confirmed the “sensory gain control theory,” as attention enhanced the amplitude of the early ERP components, P1 and N1, without latency changes. In the involuntary attention condition, compared with invalid trials, targets in the valid trials elicited larger and later contralateral P1 components, and smaller and later contralateral N1 components. Furthermore, but only in the voluntary attention condition, targets in the valid trials elicited larger N2 and P3 components than in the invalid trials. Attention focusing in the involuntary attention condition resulted in larger P1 components elicited by targets in small-cue trials compared to large-cue trials, whereas in the voluntary attention condition, larger P1 components were elicited by targets in large-cue trials than in small-cue trials. There was no interaction between orienting and focusing. These results suggest that orienting and focusing of visual-spatial attention are deployed independently regardless of attention type. In addition, the present results provide evidence of dissociation between voluntary and involuntary attention during the same task.

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Characterizing pinprick-evoked brain potentials before and after experimentally induced secondary hyperalgesia

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00444.2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 114 (5) ◽

pp. 2672-2681 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Emanuel N. van den Broeke ◽

André Mouraux ◽

Antonia H. Groneberg ◽

Doreen B. Pfau ◽

Rolf-Detlef Treede ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Event Related Potentials ◽

Stimulus Onset ◽

Secondary Hyperalgesia ◽

Brain Potentials ◽

Nociceptive Pathways ◽

Before And After ◽

Pain Ratings ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Positive Complex ◽

Stimulation Of

Secondary hyperalgesia is believed to be a key feature of “central sensitization” and is characterized by enhanced pain to mechanical nociceptive stimuli. The aim of the present study was to characterize, using EEG, the effects of pinprick stimulation intensity on the magnitude of pinprick-elicited brain potentials [event-related potentials (ERPs)] before and after secondary hyperalgesia induced by intradermal capsaicin in humans. Pinprick-elicited ERPs and pinprick-evoked pain ratings were recorded in 19 healthy volunteers, with mechanical pinprick stimuli of varying intensities (0.25-mm probe applied with a force extending between 16 and 512 mN). The recordings were performed before (T0) and 30 min after (T1) intradermal capsaicin injection. The contralateral noninjected arm served as control. ERPs elicited by stimulation of untreated skin were characterized by 1) an early-latency negative-positive complex peaking between 120 and 250 ms after stimulus onset (N120-P240) and maximal at the vertex and 2) a long-lasting positive wave peaking 400–600 ms after stimulus onset and maximal more posterior (P500), which was correlated to perceived pinprick pain. After capsaicin injection, pinprick stimuli were perceived as more intense in the area of secondary hyperalgesia and this effect was stronger for lower compared with higher stimulus intensities. In addition, there was an enhancement of the P500 elicited by stimuli of intermediate intensity, which was significant for 64 mN. The other components of the ERPs were unaffected by capsaicin. Our results suggest that the increase in P500 magnitude after capsaicin is mediated by facilitated mechanical nociceptive pathways.

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Nonspatial intermodal selective attention is mediated by sensory brain areas: Evidence from event-related potentials

Psychophysiology ◽

10.1111/1469-8986.3850736 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 38 (5) ◽

pp. 736-751 ◽

Cited By ~ 43

Author(s):

Durk Talsma ◽

Albert Kok

Keyword(s):

Selective Attention ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Brain Areas ◽

Related Potentials

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Duration Estimation of Angry and Neutral Faces: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Correlates

Timing & Time Perception ◽

10.1163/22134468-bja10020 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (3-4) ◽

pp. 254-278

Author(s):

Lisa V. Eberhardt ◽

Ferdinand Pittino ◽

Anna Scheins ◽

Anke Huckauf ◽

Markus Kiefer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Emotional Processing ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Stimulus Onset ◽

Emotional Stimuli ◽

Information Processing Model ◽

Emotional Faces ◽

Early Posterior Negativity ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Stimulus Offset ◽

Duration Estimation

Abstract Emotional stimuli like emotional faces have been frequently shown to be temporally overestimated compared to neutral ones. This effect has been commonly explained by induced arousal caused by emotional processing leading to the acceleration of an inner-clock-like pacemaker. However, there are some studies reporting contradictory effects and others point to relevant moderating variables. Given this controversy, we aimed at investigating the processes underlying the temporal overestimation of emotional faces by combining behavioral and electrophysiological correlates in a temporal bisection task. We assessed duration estimation of angry and neutral faces using anchor durations of 400 ms and 1600 ms while recording event-related potentials. Subjective ratings and the early posterior negativity confirmed encoding and processing of stimuli’s emotionality. However, temporal ratings did not differ between angry and neutral faces. In line with this behavioral result, the Contingent Negative Variation (CNV), an electrophysiological index of temporal accumulation, was not modulated by the faces’ emotionality. Duration estimates, i.e., short or long responses toward stimuli of ambiguous durations of 1000 ms, were nevertheless associated with a differential CNV amplitude. Interestingly, CNV modulation was already observed at 600–700 ms after stimulus onset, i.e., long before stimulus offset. The results are discussed in light of the information-processing model of time perception as well as regarding possible factors of the experimental setup moderating temporal overestimation of emotional stimuli. In sum, combining behavioral and electrophysiological measures seems promising to more clearly understand the complex processes leading to the illusion of temporal lengthening of emotional faces.

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Event-Related Potentials During Memory Search and Selective Attention to Letter Size and Conjunctions of Letter Size and Color

Psychophysiology ◽

10.1111/j.1469-8986.1989.tb00706.x ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 26 (5) ◽

pp. 529-547 ◽

Cited By ~ 79

Author(s):

Albertus A. Wijers ◽

Gijsbertus Mulder ◽

Tsunetaka Okita ◽

Lambertus J.M. Mulder

Keyword(s):

Selective Attention ◽

Memory Search ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Letter Size

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Comparison of Early Cortical Networks in Efficient and Inefficient Visual Search: An Event-Related Potential Study

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/089892903770007425 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 15 (7) ◽

pp. 1039-1051 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ute Leonards ◽

Julie Palix ◽

Christoph Michel ◽

Vicente Ibanez

Keyword(s):

Event Related Potentials ◽

Temporal Correlation ◽

Temporal Analysis ◽

Search Display ◽

Stimulus Onset ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Time Range ◽

Cortical Networks ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Spatio Temporal

Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have indicated that efficient feature search (FS) and inefficient conjunction search (CS) activate partially distinct frontoparietal cortical networks. However, it remains a matter of debate whether the differences in these networks reflect differences in the early processing during FS and CS. In addition, the relationship between the differences in the networks and spatial shifts of attention also remains unknown. We examined these issues by applying a spatio-temporal analysis method to high-resolution visual event-related potentials (ERPs) and investigated how spatio-temporal activation patterns differ for FS and CS tasks. Within the first 450 msec after stimulus onset, scalp potential distributions (ERP maps) revealed 7 different electric field configurations for each search task. Configuration changes occurred simultaneously in the two tasks, suggesting that contributing processes were not significantly delayed in one task compared to the other. Despite this high spatial and temporal correlation, two ERP maps (120–190 and 250–300 msec) differed between the FS and CS. Lateralized distributions were observed only in the ERP map at 250–300 msec for the FS. This distribution corresponds to that previously described as the N2pc component (a negativity in the time range of the N2 complex over posterior electrodes of the hemisphere contralateral to the target hemifield), which has been associated with the focusing of attention onto potential target items in the search display. Thus, our results indicate that the cortical networks involved in feature and conjunction searching partially differ as early as 120 msec after stimulus onset and that the differences between the networks employed during the early stages of FS and CS are not necessarily caused by spatial attention shifts.

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Intermodal Compensatory Effects in a Visual Search Task with Congenitally Deaf Adults

Perception ◽

10.1068/v96p0301 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 25 (1_suppl) ◽

pp. 147-147

Author(s):

P Stivalet ◽

Y Moreno ◽

C Cian ◽

J Richard ◽

P-A Barraud

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Visual Search ◽

Search Task ◽

Visual Search Task ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Normal Subjects ◽

Stimulus Onset ◽

Search Pattern ◽

York Academy ◽

Related Potentials

In a visual search paradigm we measured the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between a stimulus and a mask that was required to reach 90% correct responses. This procedure has the advantage of taking into account the real processing time and excluding the time for the generation of the motor response. Twelve congenitally deaf adult subjects and twelve normal subjects were given a visual search task for a target letter O among a varying number of distractor letters Q and vice-versa. In both groups we found the asymmetrical visual search pattern classically observed with parallel processing for the search for the target Q and with serial processing for the search for the target O (Treisman, 1985 Computer Vision, Graphics, and Image Processing31 156 – 177). The difference between the mean search slopes for an O target was not statistically significant between the groups; this might be due to the variability within the groups. The visual search amidst the congenitally deaf does not seem to benefit from a compensatory effect in relation to the acoustic deprivation. Our results seem to confirm data reported by Neville (1990 Annals of the New York Academy of Science 71 – 91) obtained by an electrophysiological technique based on event-related potentials. Nevertheless, the deaf subjects were 2.5 times faster at the visual search task.

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