Separate Neural Processing of Timbre Dimensions in Auditory Sensory Memory

Timbre is a multidimensional perceptual attribute of complex tones that characterizes the identity of a sound source. Our study explores the representation in auditory sensory memory of three timbre dimensions (acoustically related to attack time, spectral centroid, and spectrum fine structure), using the mismatch negativity (MMN) component of the auditory event-related potential. MMN is elicited by a discriminable change in a sound sequence and reflects the detection of the discrepancy between the current stimulus and traces in auditory sensory memory. The stimuli used in the present study were carefully controlled synthetic tones. MMNs were recorded after changes along each of the three timbre dimensions and their combinations. Additivity of unidimensional MMNs and dipole modeling results suggest partially separate MMN generators for different timbre dimensions, reflecting their mainly separate processing in auditory sensory memory. The results expand to timbre dimensions a property of separation of the representation in sensory memory that has already been reported between basic perceptual attributes (pitch, loudness, duration, and location) of sound sources.

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Audiovisual Events in Sensory Memory

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803.21.34.231 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 21 (3-4) ◽

pp. 231-238 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Julien Besle ◽

Anne Caclin ◽

Romaine Mayet ◽

Claude Delpuech ◽

Françoise Lecaignard ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Auditory System ◽

Mismatch Negativity ◽

Occipital Cortex ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Sensory Memory ◽

Visual Features ◽

Auditory Event ◽

Auditory Sensory Memory ◽

Memory Representations ◽

Auditory Features

The functional properties of the auditory sensory memory have been extensively studied using the mismatch negativity (MMN) component of the auditory event-related potential (ERP) and its magnetic counterpart recorded using magneto-encephalography (MEG). It has been found that distinct auditory features (such as frequency or intensity) are encoded separately in sensory memory. Nevertheless, the conjunction of these features (auditory “gestalts”) can also be encoded in auditory sensory memory. Here we investigated how auditory and visual features of bimodal events are represented in sensory memory by recording audiovisual MMNs in two different audiovisual oddball paradigms. The results of a first ERP experiment showed that the sensory memory representations of auditory and visual features of audiovisual events lie within the temporal and occipital cortex, respectively, yet with possible interactions between the processing of the unimodal features. In a subsequent MEG experiment, we found some evidence that audiovisual feature conjunctions could also be represented in sensory memory. These results, thus, extend to the audiovisual domain a number of properties of sensory memory already established within the auditory system.

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Newborn Infants Detect Cues of Concurrent Sound Segregation

Developmental Neuroscience ◽

10.1159/000370237 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 37 (2) ◽

pp. 172-181 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Alexandra Bendixen ◽

Gábor P. Háden ◽

Renáta Németh ◽

Dávid Farkas ◽

Miklós Török ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Newborn Infants ◽

Random Order ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Physical Parameters ◽

Veridical Perception ◽

Sound Sources ◽

Perceptual Object ◽

Delayed Onset ◽

Sound Segregation ◽

Complex Tones

Separating concurrent sounds is fundamental for a veridical perception of one's auditory surroundings. Sound components that are harmonically related and start at the same time are usually grouped into a common perceptual object, whereas components that are not in harmonic relation or have different onset times are more likely to be perceived in terms of separate objects. Here we tested whether neonates are able to pick up the cues supporting this sound organization principle. We presented newborn infants with a series of complex tones with their harmonics in tune (creating the percept of a unitary sound object) and with manipulated variants, which gave the impression of two concurrently active sound sources. The manipulated variant had either one mistuned partial (single-cue condition) or the onset of this mistuned partial was also delayed (double-cue condition). Tuned and manipulated sounds were presented in random order with equal probabilities. Recording the neonates' electroencephalographic responses allowed us to evaluate their processing of the sounds. Results show that, in both conditions, mistuned sounds elicited a negative displacement of the event-related potential (ERP) relative to tuned sounds from 360 to 400 ms after sound onset. The mistuning-related ERP component resembles the object-related negativity (ORN) component in adults, which is associated with concurrent sound segregation. Delayed onset additionally led to a negative displacement from 160 to 200 ms, which was probably more related to the physical parameters of the sounds than to their perceptual segregation. The elicitation of an ORN-like response in newborn infants suggests that neonates possess the basic capabilities of segregating concurrent sounds by detecting inharmonic relations between the co-occurring sounds.

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Modulation of auditory sensory memory by chronic clinical pain and acute experimental pain: a mismatch negativity study

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-018-34099-y ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lu Fan ◽

Ya-Bin Sun ◽

Ze-Kun Sun ◽

Ning Wang ◽

Fei Luo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mismatch Negativity ◽

Experimental Pain ◽

Sensory Memory ◽

Auditory Sensory Memory ◽

Clinical Pain

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Fast parametric evaluation of central speech-sound processing and phoneme categorization of 11-12 year old children with the mismatch negativity of the auditory event related potential

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00190 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

Author(s):

Huotilainen Minna

Keyword(s):

Mismatch Negativity ◽

Speech Sound ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Sound Processing ◽

Auditory Event ◽

Phoneme Categorization

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Input to Verbal Working Memory

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169.51.4.231 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 51 (4) ◽

pp. 231-239 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Thomas Jacobsen ◽

Erich Schröger

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Speech Sound ◽

Verbal Working Memory ◽

Relevant Information ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Auditory Sensory Memory ◽

Complex Tones ◽

Informational Basis

Abstract. Working memory uses central sound representations as an informational basis. The central sound representation is the temporally and feature-integrated mental representation that corresponds to phenomenal perception. It is used in (higher-order) mental operations and stored in long-term memory. In the bottom-up processing path, the central sound representation can be probed at the level of auditory sensory memory with the mismatch negativity (MMN) of the event-related potential. The present paper reviews a newly developed MMN paradigm to tap into the processing of speech sound representations. Preattentive vowel categorization based on F1-F2 formant information occurs in speech sounds and complex tones even under conditions of high variability of the auditory input. However, an additional experiment demonstrated the limits of the preattentive categorization of language-relevant information. It tested whether the system categorizes complex tones containing the F1 and F2 formant components of the vowel /a/ differently than six sounds with nonlanguage-like F1-F2 combinations. From the absence of an MMN in this experiment, it is concluded that no adequate vowel representation was constructed. This shows limitations of the capability of preattentive vowel categorization.

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