Temporal window of integration of auditory information in the human brain.
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.
Yabe
H
H
Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Finland.
Tervaniemi
M
M
Sinkkonen
J
J
Huotilainen
M
M
Ilmoniemi
R J
RJ
Näätänen
R
R
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D013997:Time Factors