Representation of loudness in the auditory cortex.
Changes in stimulus intensity are reflected in changes in the fundamental perceptual attribute of loudness. Stimulus intensity changes also profoundly impact the evoked neural responses throughout the auditory system. A fundamental question is how measurements of neural activity, from the single-neuron level to mass-activity metrics such as functional magnetic resonance imaging or magnetoencephalography, reflect the physical properties of stimulus intensity as opposed to perceived loudness. In this chapter we discuss findings from psychophysics and animal neurophysiology as well as human brain activity measurements to clarify our current understanding of the neural mechanisms that contribute to the perceptual correlate of stimulus intensity.
Center for Integrative Neuroscience and Coleman Memorial Laboratory, Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. Electronic address: chris@phy.ucsf.edu.
Christoph E
CE
Schreiner
Center for Integrative Neuroscience and Coleman Memorial Laboratory, Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Brian J
BJ
Malone
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D006801:Humans; D008144:Loudness Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D011601:Psychophysics
Auditory system; cortex; fMRI; loudness; neurophysiology; phons; psychophysics; sones; stimulus intensity