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Ringer H, Rösch SA, Roeber U, Deller J, Escera C, Grimm S. That sounds awful! Does sound unpleasantness modulate the mismatch negativity and its habituation? Psychophysiology 2024; 61:e14450. [PMID: 37779371 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2023] [Revised: 08/05/2023] [Accepted: 08/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/03/2023]
Abstract
There are sounds that most people perceive as highly unpleasant, for instance, the sound of rubbing pieces of polystyrene together. Previous research showed larger physiological and neural responses for such aversive compared to neutral sounds. Hitherto, it remains unclear whether habituation, i.e., diminished responses to repeated stimulus presentation, which is typically reported for neutral sounds, occurs to the same extent for aversive stimuli. We measured the mismatch negativity (MMN) in response to rare occurrences of aversive or neutral deviant sounds within an auditory oddball sequence in 24 healthy participants, while they performed a demanding visual distractor task. Deviants occurred as single events (i.e., between two standards) or as double deviants (i.e., repeating the identical deviant sound in two consecutive trials). All deviants elicited a clear MMN, and amplitudes were larger for aversive than for neutral deviants (irrespective of their position within a deviant pair). This supports the claim of preattentive emotion evaluation during early auditory processing. In contrast to our expectations, MMN amplitudes did not show habituation, but increased in response to deviant repetition-similarly for aversive and neutral deviants. A more fine-grained analysis of individual MMN amplitudes in relation to individual arousal and valence ratings of each sound item revealed that stimulus-specific MMN amplitudes were best predicted by the interaction of deviant position and perceived arousal, but not by valence. Deviants with perceived higher arousal elicited larger MMN amplitudes only at the first deviant position, indicating that the MMN reflects preattentive processing of the emotional content of sounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanna Ringer
- Wilhelm Wundt Institute for Psychology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Sarah Alica Rösch
- Wilhelm Wundt Institute for Psychology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School on Neuroscience of Communication, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Integrated Research and Treatment Center (IFB) Adiposity Diseases, Behavioral Medicine Research Unit, Leipzig University Medical Center, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Urte Roeber
- Wilhelm Wundt Institute for Psychology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Julia Deller
- Wilhelm Wundt Institute for Psychology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Carles Escera
- Brainlab - Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, Esplugues de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Sabine Grimm
- Physics of Cognition Lab, Institute of Physics, Chemnitz University of Technology, Chemnitz, Germany
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Stein J, von Kriegstein K, Tabas A. Predictive encoding of pure tones and FM-sweeps in the human auditory cortex. Cereb Cortex Commun 2022; 3:tgac047. [PMID: 36545253 PMCID: PMC9764222 DOI: 10.1093/texcom/tgac047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2022] [Revised: 11/05/2022] [Accepted: 11/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Expectations substantially influence perception, but the neural mechanisms underlying this influence are not fully understood. A prominent view is that sensory neurons encode prediction error with respect to expectations on upcoming sensory input. Although the encoding of prediction error has been previously demonstrated in the human auditory cortex (AC), previous studies often induced expectations using stimulus repetition, potentially confounding prediction error with neural habituation. These studies also measured AC as a single population, failing to consider possible predictive specializations of different AC fields. Moreover, the few studies that considered prediction error to stimuli other than pure tones yielded conflicting results. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to systematically investigate prediction error to subjective expectations in auditory cortical fields Te1.0, Te1.1, Te1.2, and Te3, and two types of stimuli: pure tones and frequency modulated (FM) sweeps. Our results show that prediction error is elicited with respect to the participants' expectations independently of stimulus repetition and similarly expressed across auditory fields. Moreover, despite the radically different strategies underlying the decoding of pure tones and FM-sweeps, both stimulus modalities were encoded as prediction error in most fields of AC. Altogether, our results provide unequivocal evidence that predictive coding is the general encoding mechanism in AC.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Katharina von Kriegstein
- Chair of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Technical University Dresden, Bamberger Str. 7, Dresden 01187, Germany
| | - Alejandro Tabas
- Chair of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Technical University Dresden, Bamberger Str. 7, Dresden 01187, Germany
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Kung SJ, Wu DH, Hsu CH, Hsieh IH. A Minimum Temporal Window for Direction Detection of Frequency-Modulated Sweeps: A Magnetoencephalography Study. Front Psychol 2020; 11:389. [PMID: 32218758 PMCID: PMC7078663 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00389] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2019] [Accepted: 02/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to rapidly encode the direction of frequency contour contained in frequency-modulated (FM) sweeps is essential for speech processing, music appreciation, and conspecific communications. Psychophysical evidence points to a common temporal window threshold for human listeners in processing rapid changes in frequency glides. No neural evidence has been provided for the existence of a cortical temporal window threshold underlying the encoding of rapid transitions in frequency glides. The present magnetoencephalography study used the cortical mismatch negativity activity (MMNm) to investigate the minimum temporal window required for detecting different magnitudes of directional changes in frequency-modulated sweeps. A deviant oddball paradigm was used in which directional upward or downward frequency sweep serves as the standard and the same type of sweep with the opposite direction serves as its deviant. Stimuli consisted of unidirectional linear frequency-sweep complexes that swept across speech-relevant frequency bands in durations of 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, and 320 ms (with corresponding rates of 50, 25, 12.5, 6.2, 3.1, 1.5 oct/s). The data revealed significant magnetic mismatch field responses across all sweep durations, with slower-rate sweeps eliciting larger MMNm responses. A greater temporally related enhancement in MMNm response was obtained for rising but not falling frequency sweep contours. A hemispheric asymmetry in the MMNm response pattern was observed corresponding to the directionality of frequency sweeps. Contrary to psychophysical findings, we report a temporal window as short as 10 ms sufficient to elicit a robust MMNm response to a directional change in speech-relevant frequency contours. The results suggest that auditory cortex requires extremely brief temporal window to implicitly differentiate a dynamic change in frequency of linguistically relevant pitch contours. That the brain is extremely sensitive to fine spectral changes contained in speech-relevant glides provides cortical evidence for the ecological importance of FM sweeps in speech processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shu-Jen Kung
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan
| | - Denise H Wu
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan
| | - Chun-Hsien Hsu
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.,Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - I-Hui Hsieh
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan
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Okamoto H, Kakigi R. Modulation of Auditory Evoked Magnetic Fields Elicited by Successive Frequency-Modulated (FM) Sweeps. Front Hum Neurosci 2017; 11:36. [PMID: 28220066 PMCID: PMC5292620 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2016] [Accepted: 01/17/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In our daily life, we are successively exposed to frequency-modulated (FM) sounds that play an important role in speech and species-specific communication. Previous studies demonstrated that repetitive exposure to identical pure tones resulted in decreased neural activity. However, the effects of repetitively presented FM sounds on neural activity in the human auditory cortex remain unclear. In the present study, we used magnetoencephalography to investigate auditory evoked N1m responses elicited by four successive temporally repeated and superimposed FM sweeps in three sequences: (1) four FM sweeps were identical, (2) four FM sweeps had the same FM direction and rate, but different carrier frequencies, (3) four FM sweeps differed with respect to the FM rate and/or direction and their carrier frequencies. In contrast to our expectations, the results obtained demonstrated that N1m responses were maximal when the four FM sweeps were identical and minimal when they were distinct. These results suggest that the neural processing of repetitive FM sweeps in the human auditory cortex may differ from that of repetitive pure tones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hidehiko Okamoto
- Department of Integrative Physiology, National Institute for Physiological SciencesOkazaki, Japan
- Department of Physiological Sciences, Graduate University for Advanced StudiesHayama, Japan
- *Correspondence: Hidehiko Okamoto
| | - Ryusuke Kakigi
- Department of Integrative Physiology, National Institute for Physiological SciencesOkazaki, Japan
- Department of Physiological Sciences, Graduate University for Advanced StudiesHayama, Japan
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Recasens M, Leung S, Grimm S, Nowak R, Escera C. Repetition suppression and repetition enhancement underlie auditory memory-trace formation in the human brain: an MEG study. Neuroimage 2015; 108:75-86. [PMID: 25528656 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.12.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2014] [Revised: 11/24/2014] [Accepted: 12/12/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022] Open
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Klein C, von der Behrens W, Gaese BH. Stimulus-Specific Adaptation in Field Potentials and Neuronal Responses to Frequency-Modulated Tones in the Primary Auditory Cortex. Brain Topogr 2014; 27:599-610. [DOI: 10.1007/s10548-014-0376-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2013] [Accepted: 05/08/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Cornella M, Leung S, Grimm S, Escera C. Regularity encoding and deviance detection of frequency modulated sweeps: Human middle- and long-latency auditory evoked potentials. Psychophysiology 2013; 50:1275-81. [DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2013] [Accepted: 07/01/2013] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Miriam Cornella
- Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior (IR3C) and Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology; University of Barcelona; Catalonia Spain
| | - Sumie Leung
- Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior (IR3C) and Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology; University of Barcelona; Catalonia Spain
| | - Sabine Grimm
- Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior (IR3C) and Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology; University of Barcelona; Catalonia Spain
| | - Carles Escera
- Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior (IR3C) and Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychobiology; University of Barcelona; Catalonia Spain
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Altmann CF, Gaese BH. Representation of frequency-modulated sounds in the human brain. Hear Res 2013; 307:74-85. [PMID: 23933098 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2013.07.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2013] [Revised: 07/26/2013] [Accepted: 07/27/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Frequency-modulation is a ubiquitous sound feature present in communicative sounds of various animal species and humans. Functional imaging of the human auditory system has seen remarkable advances in the last two decades and studies pertaining to frequency-modulation have centered around two major questions: a) are there dedicated feature-detectors encoding frequency-modulation in the brain and b) is there concurrent representation with amplitude-modulation, another temporal sound feature? In this review, we first describe how these two questions are motivated by psychophysical studies and neurophysiology in animal models. We then review how human non-invasive neuroimaging studies have furthered our understanding of the representation of frequency-modulated sounds in the brain. Finally, we conclude with some suggestions on how human neuroimaging could be used in future studies to address currently still open questions on this fundamental sound feature. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Human Auditory Neuroimaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian F Altmann
- Human Brain Research Center, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan; Career-Path Promotion Unit for Young Life Scientists, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
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Repetition of complex frequency-modulated sweeps enhances neuromagnetic responses in the human auditory cortex. Hear Res 2011; 282:216-24. [DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2011.07.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2011] [Revised: 07/15/2011] [Accepted: 07/29/2011] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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Heinemann LV, Kaiser J, Altmann CF. Auditory repetition enhancement at short interstimulus intervals for frequency-modulated tones. Brain Res 2011; 1411:65-75. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2011.07.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2011] [Revised: 07/05/2011] [Accepted: 07/06/2011] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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