title: Mapping the tonotopic organization in human auditory cortex with minimally salient acoustic stimulation.
abstract: Despite numerous neuroimaging studies, the tonotopic organization in human auditory cortex is not yet unambiguously established. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, 20 subjects were presented with low-level task-irrelevant tones to avoid spread of cortical activation. Data-driven analyses were employed to obtain robust tonotopic maps. Two high-frequency endpoints were situated on the caudal and rostral banks of medial Heschl's gyrus, while low-frequency activation peaked on its lateral crest. Based on cortical parcellations, these 2 tonotopic progressions coincide with the primary auditory field (A1) in lateral koniocortex (Kl) and the rostral field (R) in medial koniocortex (Km), which together constitute a core region. Another gradient was found on the planum temporale. Our results show the bilateral existence of 3 tonotopic gradients in angulated orientations, which contrasts with colinear configurations that were suggested before. We argue that our results corroborate and elucidate the apparently contradictory findings in literature.
authors: Department of Otorhinolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands. d.r.m.langers@umcg.nl
authors: Dave R M
authors: DR
authors: Langers
authors: Pim
authors: P
authors: van Dijk
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult