Temporal window of integration of auditory information in the human brain

Author(s): Tervaniemi, M., Sinkkonen, J., Huotilainen, M., Ilmoniemi, R. J., Naatanen, R.

Journal/Book: Psychophysiology. 1998; 35: 40 West 20TH Street, New York, NY 10011-4211. Cambridge Univ Press. 615-619.

Abstract: A deviation in the acoustic environment activates an automatic change-detection system based on a memory mechanism that builds a neural trace representing the preceding sounds. The present study revealed that the auditory-cortex mechanisms underlying this sensory memory integrate acoustic events over time, producing a perception of a unitary auditory event. We recorded magnetic responses (MMNm) to occasional stimulus omissions in trains of stimuli presented at a constant stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) that was, in different blocks, either shorter or longer in duration than the assumed length of the temporal window of integration. A definite MMNm was elicited by stimulus omission only with the three shortest SOAs used: 100, 125, and 150 ms, but not with 175 ms. Thus, 160-170 ms was estimated as the length of the temporal window used by the central auditory system in integrating successive auditory input into auditory event percepts.

Note: Article Tervaniemi M, Univ Helsinki, Cognit Brain Res Unit, Dept Psychol, POB 13, FIN-00014 Helsinki, FINLAND

Keyword(s): temporal window of integration; auditory event-related potentials; MEG; mismatch negativity; memory trace; omission; SENSORY MEMORY; MAGNETOENCEPHALOGRAPHY; ATTENTION; CORTEX

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