Neural representation of three-dimensional acoustic space in the human temporal lobe.
Sound localization is an important function of the human brain, but the underlying cortical mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we recorded auditory stimuli in three-dimensional space and then replayed the stimuli through earphones during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). By employing a machine learning algorithm, we successfully decoded sound location from the blood oxygenation level-dependent signals in the temporal lobe. Analysis of the data revealed that different cortical patterns were evoked by sounds from different locations. Specifically, discrimination of sound location along the abscissa axis evoked robust responses in the left posterior superior temporal gyrus (STG) and right mid-STG, discrimination along the elevation (EL) axis evoked robust responses in the left posterior middle temporal lobe (MTL) and right STG, and discrimination along the ordinate axis evoked robust responses in the left mid-MTL and right mid-STG. These results support a distributed representation of acoustic space in human cortex.
State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Technology and Systems, Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology (TNList), Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University Beijing, China.
Xiaolu
X
Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Technology and Systems, Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology (TNList), Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University Beijing, China.
Qingtian
Q
Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Technology and Systems, Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology (TNList), Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University Beijing, China ; Center for Brain-Inspired Computing Research (CBICR), Tsinghua University Beijing, China.
Xiaolin
X
Hu
State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Technology and Systems, Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology (TNList), Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University Beijing, China ; Center for Brain-Inspired Computing Research (CBICR), Tsinghua University Beijing, China.
Bo
B
Zhang
auditory spatial discrimination; decoding; functional MRI; multivariate pattern analysis; sound localization