scholarly journals Integration of visual information in auditory cortex promotes auditory scene analysis through multisensory binding

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huriye Atilgan ◽  
Stephen M. Town ◽  
Katherine C. Wood ◽  
Gareth P. Jones ◽  
Ross K. Maddox ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Field Potential ◽  
Auditory Scene Analysis ◽  
Visual Signals ◽  
Scene Analysis ◽  
Auditory Information ◽  
Amplitude Fluctuations ◽  
Auditory Scene ◽  
Stimulus Features

SummaryHow and where in the brain audio-visual signals are bound to create multimodal objects remains unknown. One hypothesis is that temporal coherence between dynamic multisensory signals provides a mechanism for binding stimulus features across sensory modalities. Here we report that when the luminance of a visual stimulus is temporally coherent with the amplitude fluctuations of one sound in a mixture, the representation of that sound is enhanced in auditory cortex. Critically, this enhancement extends to include both binding and non-binding features of the sound. We demonstrate that visual information conveyed from visual cortex, via the phase of the local field potential is combined with auditory information within auditory cortex. These data provide evidence that early cross-sensory binding provides a bottom-up mechanism for the formation of cross-sensory objects and that one role for multisensory binding in auditory cortex is to support auditory scene analysis.

scholarly journals Integration of Visual Information in Auditory Cortex Promotes Auditory Scene Analysis through Multisensory Binding

Neuron ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 97 (3) ◽  
pp. 640-655.e4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huriye Atilgan ◽  
Stephen M. Town ◽  
Katherine C. Wood ◽  
Gareth P. Jones ◽  
Ross K. Maddox ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Auditory Scene Analysis ◽  
Scene Analysis ◽  
Auditory Scene

scholarly journals Neural mechanisms of rhythmic masking release in monkey primary auditory cortex: implications for models of auditory scene analysis

2012 ◽  
Vol 107 (9) ◽  
pp. 2366-2382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yonatan I. Fishman ◽  
Christophe Micheyl ◽  
Mitchell Steinschneider
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Perceptual Organization ◽  
Primary Auditory Cortex ◽  
Auditory Scene Analysis ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Stream Segregation ◽  
Scene Analysis ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Masking Release ◽  
Auditory Scene

The ability to detect and track relevant acoustic signals embedded in a background of other sounds is crucial for hearing in complex acoustic environments. This ability is exemplified by a perceptual phenomenon known as “rhythmic masking release” (RMR). To demonstrate RMR, a sequence of tones forming a target rhythm is intermingled with physically identical “Distracter” sounds that perceptually mask the rhythm. The rhythm can be “released from masking” by adding “Flanker” tones in adjacent frequency channels that are synchronous with the Distracters. RMR represents a special case of auditory stream segregation, whereby the target rhythm is perceptually segregated from the background of Distracters when they are accompanied by the synchronous Flankers. The neural basis of RMR is unknown. Previous studies suggest the involvement of primary auditory cortex (A1) in the perceptual organization of sound patterns. Here, we recorded neural responses to RMR sequences in A1 of awake monkeys in order to identify neural correlates and potential mechanisms of RMR. We also tested whether two current models of stream segregation, when applied to these responses, could account for the perceptual organization of RMR sequences. Results suggest a key role for suppression of Distracter-evoked responses by the simultaneous Flankers in the perceptual restoration of the target rhythm in RMR. Furthermore, predictions of stream segregation models paralleled the psychoacoustics of RMR in humans. These findings reinforce the view that preattentive or “primitive” aspects of auditory scene analysis may be explained by relatively basic neural mechanisms at the cortical level.

scholarly journals Resolving the neural dynamics of visual and auditory scene processing in the human brain: a methodological approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 372 (1714) ◽  
pp. 20160108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radoslaw Martin Cichy ◽  
Santani Teng
Keyword(s):  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Computational Modelling ◽  
Auditory Scene Analysis ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Scene Analysis ◽  
Neural Dynamics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Auditory Information ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Auditory Scene

In natural environments, visual and auditory stimulation elicit responses across a large set of brain regions in a fraction of a second, yielding representations of the multimodal scene and its properties. The rapid and complex neural dynamics underlying visual and auditory information processing pose major challenges to human cognitive neuroscience. Brain signals measured non-invasively are inherently noisy, the format of neural representations is unknown, and transformations between representations are complex and often nonlinear. Further, no single non-invasive brain measurement technique provides a spatio-temporally integrated view. In this opinion piece, we argue that progress can be made by a concerted effort based on three pillars of recent methodological development: (i) sensitive analysis techniques such as decoding and cross-classification, (ii) complex computational modelling using models such as deep neural networks, and (iii) integration across imaging methods (magnetoencephalography/electroencephalography, functional magnetic resonance imaging) and models, e.g. using representational similarity analysis. We showcase two recent efforts that have been undertaken in this spirit and provide novel results about visual and auditory scene analysis. Finally, we discuss the limits of this perspective and sketch a concrete roadmap for future research. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Auditory and visual scene analysis’.

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