The neural circuitry of pre-attentive auditory change-detection: an fMRI study of pitch and duration mismatch negativity generators.
Electrophysiological studies have revealed a pre-attentive change-detection system in the auditory modality. This system emits a signal termed the mismatch negativity (MMN) when any detectable change in a regular pattern of auditory stimulation occurs. The precise intracranial sources underlying MMN generation, and in particular whether these vary as a function of the acoustic feature that changes, is a matter of some debate. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we show that anatomically distinct networks of auditory cortices are activated as a function of the deviating acoustic feature--in this case, tone frequency and tone duration--strongly supporting the hypothesis that MMN generators in auditory cortex are feature dependent. We also detail regions of the frontal and parietal cortices activated by change-detection processes. These regions also show feature dependence and we hypothesize that they reflect recruitment of attention-switching mechanisms.
Molholm
Sophie
S
The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Program in Cognitive Neuroscience and Schizophrenia, Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, 140 Old Orangeburg Road, Orangeburg, NY 10962, USA. molholm@nki.rfmh.org
Martinez
Antigona
A
Ritter
Walter
W
Javitt
Daniel C
DC
Foxe
John J
JJ
D000328:Adult; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D010897:Pitch Discrimination / Q000502:physiology*