title: Human auditory cortical responses to pitch and to pitch strength.
abstract: Pitch is a fundamental auditory sensation, underlying both music and speech perception. This study was designed to explore pitch coding in human auditory cortex by testing whether activity in pitch-responsive regions covaries as a function of pitch salience (pitch strength). A psychophysical paradigm was used to confirm three levels of pitch salience for two different pitch-evoking stimuli. The location and magnitude of the response to these stimuli were measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging. A pitch response was found in planum temporale, close to the posterolateral border of Heschl's gyrus. However, the response was not sensitive to pitch salience. One interpretation is that pitch-sensitive regions are maximally responsive to the presence or absence of pitch and not to pitch salience.
authors.affiliation: MRC Institute of Hearing Research, University Park, Nottingham, UK. d.garcia@ihr.mrc.ac.uk
authors.forename: Daphne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Barker
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Plack
authors.forename: Deborah A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Hall
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000328:Adult; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008144:Loudness Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010898:Pitch Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult