Dataset Information

Correspondence of categorical and feature-based representations of music in the human brain.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Humans tend to categorize auditory stimuli into discrete classes, such as animal species, language, musical instrument, and music genre. Of these, music genre is a frequently used dimension of human music preference and is determined based on the categorization of complex auditory stimuli. Neuroimaging studies have reported that the superior temporal gyrus (STG) is involved in response to general music-related features. However, there is considerable uncertainty over how discrete music categories are represented in the brain and which acoustic features are more suited for explaining such representations.

Methods

We used a total of 540 music clips to examine comprehensive cortical representations and the functional organization of music genre categories. For this purpose, we applied a voxel-wise modeling approach to music-evoked brain activity measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging. In addition, we introduced a novel technique for feature-brain similarity analysis and assessed how discrete music categories are represented based on the cortical response pattern to acoustic features.

Results

Our findings indicated distinct cortical organizations for different music genres in the bilateral STG, and they revealed representational relationships between different music genres. On comparing different acoustic feature models, we found that these representations of music genres could be explained largely by a biologically plausible spectro-temporal modulation-transfer function model.

Conclusion

Our findings have elucidated the quantitative representation of music genres in the human cortex, indicating the possibility of modeling this categorization of complex auditory stimuli based on brain activity.

SUBMITTER: Nakai T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7821620 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Correspondence of categorical and feature-based representations of music in the human brain.

Nakai Tomoya T Koide-Majima Naoko N Nishimoto Shinji S

Brain and behavior 20201108 1

<h4>Introduction</h4>Humans tend to categorize auditory stimuli into discrete classes, such as animal species, language, musical instrument, and music genre. Of these, music genre is a frequently used dimension of human music preference and is determined based on the categorization of complex auditory stimuli. Neuroimaging studies have reported that the superior temporal gyrus (STG) is involved in response to general music-related features. However, there is considerable uncertainty over how dis ...[more]

PMID: 33164348

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Project description:The brain transforms continuous acoustic events into discrete category representations to downsample the speech signal for our perceptual-cognitive systems. Such phonetic categories are highly malleable, and their percepts can change depending on surrounding stimulus context. Previous work suggests these acoustic-phonetic mapping and perceptual warping of speech emerge in the brain no earlier than auditory cortex. Here, we examined whether these auditory-category phenomena inherent to speech perception occur even earlier in the human brain, at the level of auditory brainstem. We recorded speech-evoked frequency following responses (FFRs) during a task designed to induce more/less warping of listeners' perceptual categories depending on stimulus presentation order of a speech continuum (random, forward, backward directions). We used a novel clustered stimulus paradigm to rapidly record the high trial counts needed for FFRs concurrent with active behavioral tasks. We found serial stimulus order caused perceptual shifts (hysteresis) near listeners' category boundary confirming identical speech tokens are perceived differentially depending on stimulus context. Critically, we further show neural FFRs during active (but not passive) listening are enhanced for prototypical vs. category-ambiguous tokens and are biased in the direction of listeners' phonetic label even for acoustically-identical speech stimuli. These findings were not observed in the stimulus acoustics nor model FFR responses generated via a computational model of cochlear and auditory nerve transduction, confirming a central origin to the effects. Our data reveal FFRs carry category-level information and suggest top-down processing actively shapes the neural encoding and categorization of speech at subcortical levels. These findings suggest the acoustic-phonetic mapping and perceptual warping in speech perception occur surprisingly early along the auditory neuroaxis, which might aid understanding by reducing ambiguity inherent to the speech signal.

Dataset Information

Correspondence of categorical and feature-based representations of music in the human brain.

Introduction

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Correspondence of categorical and feature-based representations of music in the human brain.

Similar Datasets

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