Neural responses to auditory temporal patterns

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Sets of regularly auditory stimuli elicit unique perceptions; listeners are able to identify specific temporal patterns. Some temporal patterns are unambiguous (only one pattern can be perceived), while others are ambiguous (numerous patterns can be detected). While the psychophysical properties of such percepts have been well studied, little is known about the underlying neurological bases of temporal pattern perception. In this experiment, the role of adaptation in temporal pattern perception is examined by studying neural responses in four cats to a temporal pattern that is perceptually unambiguous and one that is perceptually abmiguous. Measurements were made of the whole-nerve action potential, the auditory brain-stem response, and potentials from the surface of the primary auditory cortex. The adaptation patterns corresponded with the perceptual organization of temporal patterns in humans at all levels of the nervous system studied.