The concept of auditory stimulus representation in cognitive neuroscience

Author(s): Winkler, I.

Journal/Book: Psychol Bull. 1999; 125: 750 First St NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242, USA. Amer Psychological Assoc. 826-859.

Abstract: The sequence of neurophysiological processes elicited in the auditory system by a sound is analyzed in search of the stage at which the processes carrying sensory information cross the borderline beyond which they directly underlie sound perception. Neurophysiological data suggest that this transition occurs when the sensory input is mapped onto the physiological basis of sensory memory in the auditory cortex. At this point, the sensory information carried by the stimulus-elicited process corresponds, for the first time, to that contained by the actual sound percept. Before this stage, the sensory stimulus code is fragmentary, lacks the time dimension, cannot enter conscious perception, and is not accessible to tap-down processes (voluntary mental operations). On these grounds, 2 distinct stages of auditory sensory processing, prerepresentational and representational, can be distinguished.

Note: Review Naatanen R, Univ Helsinki, Dept Psychol, Cognit Brain Res Unit, POB 13, FIN-00014 Helsinki, FINLAND

Keyword(s): EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS; EVOKED MAGNETIC-FIELDS; BACKWARD RECOGNITION MASKING; INTERMODAL SELECTIVE ATTENTION; FREQUENCY-FOLLOWING RESPONSES; INTERAURAL TIME DIFFERENCES; MISMATCH NEGATIVITY MMN; STEADY-STATE RESPONSES; DIPOLE-MODEL ANALYSIS; SENSORY MEMORY

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