title: Octave effect in auditory attention.
abstract: After hearing a tone, the human auditory system becomes more sensitive to similar tones than to other tones. Current auditory models explain this phenomenon by a simple bandpass attention filter. Here, we demonstrate that auditory attention involves multiple pass-bands around octave-related frequencies above and below the cued tone. Intriguingly, this "octave effect" not only occurs for physically presented tones, but even persists for the missing fundamental in complex tones, and for imagined tones. Our results suggest neural interactions combining octave-related frequencies, likely located in nonprimary cortical regions. We speculate that this connectivity scheme evolved from exposure to natural vibrations containing octave-related spectral peaks, e.g., as produced by vocal cords.
authors.affiliation: Physics of Man, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, 3584 CS, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Borra
authors.forename: Huib
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Versnel
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kemner
authors.forename: A John
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: van Opstal
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: van Ee
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D011571:Psychoacoustics
keywords: attention band; priming; psychoacoustics; scene analysis