title: Rapid Context-based Identification of Target Sounds in an Auditory Scene.
abstract: To make sense of our dynamic and complex auditory environment, we must be able to parse the sensory input into usable parts and pick out relevant sounds from all the potentially distracting auditory information. Although it is unclear exactly how we accomplish this difficult task, Gamble and Woldorff [Gamble, M. L., & Woldorff, M. G. The temporal cascade of neural processes underlying target detection and attentional processing during auditory search. Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y.: 1991), 2014] recently reported an ERP study of an auditory target-search task in a temporally and spatially distributed, rapidly presented, auditory scene. They reported an early, differential, bilateral activation (beginning at 60 msec) between feature-deviating target stimuli and physically equivalent feature-deviating nontargets, reflecting a rapid target detection process. This was followed shortly later (at 130 msec) by the lateralized N2ac ERP activation, that reflects the focusing of auditory spatial attention toward the target sound and parallels the attentional-shifting processes widely studied in vision. Here we directly examined the early, bilateral, target-selective effect to better understand its nature and functional role. Participants listened to midline-presented sounds that included target and nontarget stimuli that were randomly either embedded in a brief rapid stream or presented alone. The results indicate that this early bilateral effect results from a template for the target that utilizes its feature deviancy within a stream to enable rapid identification. Moreover, individual-differences analysis showed that the size of this effect was larger for participants with faster RTs. The findings support the hypothesis that our auditory attentional systems can implement and utilize a context-based relational template for a target sound, making use of additional auditory information in the environment when needing to rapidly detect a relevant sound.
authors.affiliation: Duke University.
authors.forename: Marissa L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Gamble
authors.affiliation: Duke University.
authors.forename: Marty G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Woldorff
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D046709:Pattern Recognition, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
references.citation: Hear Res. 2008 Apr;238(1-2):139-46
references.pmid: 18082346
references.citation: Eur J Neurosci. 2008 Jun;27(12):3329-41
references.pmid: 18598270
references.citation: Clin Neurophysiol. 2006 Nov;117(11):2532-9
references.pmid: 17005448
references.citation: Percept Psychophys. 2007 Feb;69(2):162-71
references.pmid: 17557587
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 Jul 17;104(29):12223-7
references.pmid: 17615235
references.citation: Curr Biol. 2005 Nov 8;15(21):1943-7
references.pmid: 16271872
references.citation: Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1996 Nov;100(6):555-62
references.pmid: 8980420
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 1995 Jan;21(1):255-60
references.pmid: 7876773
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 1994 Oct;20(5):1000-14
references.pmid: 7964526
references.citation: Psychophysiology. 1993 Jan;30(1):98-119
references.pmid: 8416067
references.citation: Psychophysiology. 1991 Jan;28(1):30-42
references.pmid: 1886962
references.citation: Int J Psychophysiol. 1990 Oct;9(3):257-67
references.pmid: 2276944
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 1983 Feb;9(1):1-19
references.pmid: 6220115
references.citation: Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1980 Aug;49(3-4):277-90
references.pmid: 6158404
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2004 Feb;30(1):180-93
references.pmid: 14769076
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2003 Jun;29(3):713-25
references.pmid: 12848335
references.citation: Psychophysiology. 2000 Mar;37(2):163-78
references.pmid: 10731767
references.citation: Cereb Cortex. 2015 Sep;25(9):2456-65
references.pmid: 24711486
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2012 Aug;38(4):998-1013
references.pmid: 22288691
references.citation: Psychophysiology. 2011 Aug;48(8):1057-68
references.pmid: 21261633
references.citation: J Cogn Neurosci. 2009 Feb;21(2):359-71
references.pmid: 18510441
references.citation: Clin Neurophysiol. 2007 Oct;118(10):2128-48
references.pmid: 17573239