title: Neural dynamics underlying attentional orienting to auditory representations in short-term memory.
abstract: Sounds are ephemeral. Thus, coherent auditory perception depends on "hearing" back in time: retrospectively attending that which was lost externally but preserved in short-term memory (STM). Current theories of auditory attention assume that sound features are integrated into a perceptual object, that multiple objects can coexist in STM, and that attention can be deployed to an object in STM. Recording electroencephalography from humans, we tested these assumptions, elucidating feature-general and feature-specific neural correlates of auditory attention to STM. Alpha/beta oscillations and frontal and posterior event-related potentials indexed feature-general top-down attentional control to one of several coexisting auditory representations in STM. Particularly, task performance during attentional orienting was correlated with alpha/low-beta desynchronization (i.e., power suppression). However, attention to one feature could occur without simultaneous processing of the second feature of the representation. Therefore, auditory attention to memory relies on both feature-specific and feature-general neural dynamics.
authors.affiliation: Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Centre, Toronto, Ontario, M6A 2E1, Canada, and Department of Psychology and kcbacker@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Kristina C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Backer
authors.affiliation: Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Centre, Toronto, Ontario, M6A 2E1, Canada, and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A1, Canada.
authors.forename: Malcolm A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Binns
authors.affiliation: Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Centre, Toronto, Ontario, M6A 2E1, Canada, and Department of Psychology and.
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alain
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: EEG; alpha/beta oscillations; attention; auditory; feature; object