title: Auditory multistability and neurotransmitter concentrations in the human brain.
abstract: Multistability in perception is a powerful tool for investigating sensory-perceptual transformations, because it produces dissociations between sensory inputs and subjective experience. Spontaneous switching between different perceptual objects occurs during prolonged listening to a sound sequence of tone triplets or repeated words (termed auditory streaming and verbal transformations, respectively). We used these examples of auditory multistability to examine to what extent neurochemical and cognitive factors influence the observed idiosyncratic patterns of switching between perceptual objects. The concentrations of glutamate-glutamine (Glx) and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in brain regions were measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopy, while personality traits and executive functions were assessed using questionnaires and response inhibition tasks. Idiosyncratic patterns of perceptual switching in the two multistable stimulus configurations were identified using a multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis. Intriguingly, although switching patterns within each individual differed between auditory streaming and verbal transformations, similar MDS dimensions were extracted separately from the two datasets. Individual switching patterns were significantly correlated with Glx and GABA concentrations in auditory cortex and inferior frontal cortex but not with the personality traits and executive functions. Our results suggest that auditory perceptual organization depends on the balance between neural excitation and inhibition in different brain regions.This article is part of the themed issue 'Auditory and visual scene analysis'.
authors.affiliation: Human Information Science Laboratory, NTT Communication Science Laboratories, NTT Corporation, Atsugi, Kanagawa 243-0198, Japan kondo.hirohito@lab.ntt.co.jp.
authors.forename: Hirohito M
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7444-4996
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Magyar Tudósok körútja 2, 1117 Budapest, Hungary.|Department of Cognitive Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Egry József utca 1, 1111 Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Dávid
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Farkas
authors.affiliation: Cognition Institute and School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, Devon PL4 8AA, UK.
authors.forename: Susan L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Denham
authors.affiliation: Human Information Science Laboratory, NTT Communication Science Laboratories, NTT Corporation, Atsugi, Kanagawa 243-0198, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomohisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Asai
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Magyar Tudósok körútja 2, 1117 Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: István
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3344-6151
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Winkler
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D005973:Glutamine / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents; D005973:Glutamine; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
keywords: auditory streaming; individual differences; magnetic resonance spectroscopy; neurotransmitters; perceptual organization; verbal transformations