Neurophysiological Correlates of Information Processing

这项拟议研究的广泛目标是提供对刺激驱动的过程的更详细的理解，这些过程有助于听觉感知。我们将使用事件相关电位(ERPs)的高时间分辨率与行为方法相结合，在不同的实验条件下比较刺激驱动的听觉过程的结果与对相同声音的注意处理产生的感知。这将使我们能够评估感觉输入和行为反应之间的处理阶段。该提案有三个主要目的。一个是确定无人值守的声音信息的处理程度。有四个实验解决了这一目标。其中一项测试是测试无人值守声音的处理能力。另一种决定了听觉特征整合的过程是否需要注意。第三个测试测试了这样一种假设，即当注意力被引导到一个声源时，听觉系统组织来自多个无人值守来源的信息。第四章考察了刺激语境对听觉事件形成的影响。第二个目标是了解注意力和刺激驱动的过程是如何相互作用的。有两个实验解决了这个问题。一个研究知觉如何与刺激驱动的听觉事件形成有关，另一个研究注意在听觉流形成中的作用。第三个目的是研究注意对早期感觉分组过程的影响。一项实验将测试自上而下处理可以修改刺激驱动的声音组织的假设。中枢听觉处理缺陷被认为在许多认知障碍(如自闭症或阅读障碍)中起着关键作用。使用电生理方法结合行为方法来描绘刺激驱动的听觉感知过程可以帮助我们加深对加工受损的理解，这对于开发康复治疗是必不可少的。此外，由于获得事件相关电位成分(如N1和MMN)不需要受试者的反应，这种方法有可能成为一种重要的非侵入性工具，用于诊断导致认知受损的中枢听觉处理缺陷。

The broad objective of the proposed research is to provide a more detailed understanding of the stimulus-driven processes that contribute to auditory perception. We will use the high temporal resolution of event-related potentials (ERPs) in conjunction with behavioral methods to compare the outcome of stimulus-driven auditory processes with the perception resulting from attentive processing of the same sounds, across various experimental conditions. This will allow us to evaluate the processing stages between sensory input and behavioral response. There are three main aims of the proposal. One is to determine the extent of processing of unattended acoustic information. Four experiments address this aim. One tests the processing capacity for unattended sounds. Another determines whether the process of auditory feature integration requires attention. A third tests the hypothesis that the auditory system organizes information from multiple unattended sources when attention is directed to a single acoustic source. The fourth investigates stimulus context effects on auditory event formation. A second aim is to understand how attention and stimulus-driven processes interact. Two experiments address this aim. One investigates how perception relates to stimulus-driven auditory event formation and another, the role of attention in auditory stream formation. The third aim is to investigate effects of attention on early sensory grouping processes. One experiment will test the hypothesis that top-down processing can modify the stimulus- driven sound organization. Deficits in central auditory processing are thought to play a key role in many cognitive disorders (e.g., autism or dyslexia). Using electrophysiological measures, in conjunction with behavioral methods, to delineate the stimulus-driven processes that contribute to auditory perception can help advance our understanding of impaired processing, which is essential for developing rehabilitative treatments. Furthermore, because subject response is not needed for obtaining the ERP components (such as N1 and MMN), this methodology has the potential to be an important non-invasive tool for diagnosis of central auditory processing deficits that contribute to impaired cognition.