title: Automatic domain-general processing of sound source identity in the left posterior middle frontal gyrus.
abstract: Identifying sound sources is fundamental to developing a stable representation of the environment in the face of variable auditory information. The cortical processes underlying this ability have received little attention. In two fMRI experiments, we investigated passive adaptation to (Exp. 1) and explicit discrimination of (Exp. 2) source identities for different categories of auditory objects (voices, musical instruments, environmental sounds). All cortical effects of source identity were independent of high-level category information, and were accounted for by sound-to-sound differences in low-level structure (e.g., loudness). A conjunction analysis revealed that the left posterior middle frontal gyrus (pMFG) adapted to identity repetitions during both passive listening and active discrimination tasks. These results indicate that the comparison of sound source identities in a stream of auditory stimulation recruits the pMFG in a domain-general way, i.e., independent of the sound category, based on information contained in the low-level acoustical structure. pMFG recruitment during both passive listening and explicit identity comparison tasks also suggests its automatic engagement in sound source identity processing.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, UK. Electronic address: brunog@psy.gla.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Bruno L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Giordano
authors.affiliation: Brain Research Imaging Center, Neuroimaging Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Electronic address: cyril.pernet@ed.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Cyril
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pernet
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council - Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK. Electronic address: ian.charest@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Charest
authors.affiliation: International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound (BRAMS), Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada; Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada. Electronic address: guylaine.belizaire@umontreal.ca.
authors.forename: Guylaine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Belizaire
authors.affiliation: Montréal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada; International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound (BRAMS), Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada. Electronic address: robert.zatorre@mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Zatorre
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, UK; Institut des Neurosciences de la Timone, UMR7289, CNRS-Université Aix Marseille, Marseille, France; International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound (BRAMS), Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada. Electronic address: pascal.belin@glasgow.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Belin
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D013017:Sound Localization / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adaptation; Auditory cortex; Auditory object; Prefrontal cortex; fMRI