THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PSYCHOPHYSICAL AND ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL MEASURES OF TEM

本子项目是利用由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的众多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能已经从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。列出的机构是中心的，不一定是研究者的机构。这个项目的总体目标是检查心理物理和电生理（即皮层）测量颞间隙检测在听力正常的年轻人之间的关系；适用于听力正常的儿童和老年人；以及已知中枢神经系统病变和听觉学习障碍的个体。快速的时间处理在语音和音乐感知以及声音定位中至关重要。先前的研究表明，婴儿和老年人的心理物理间隙阈值比年轻人低，并且电生理间隙检测方法可能显示出年龄特异性差异，而不是心理物理任务。此外，已有研究表明，使用宽带刺激获得的间隙阈值仅反映了高频纤维的神经活动。心理物理学和电生理学都已经证明，当使用频率特异性刺激时，间隙阈值是频率依赖的。综上所述，时间间隙检测能力的神经模式可能在人的一生中有所不同，对时间处理的频率特异性测量可能会阐明频率特异性听觉处理障碍。本研究建议将这些研究集中起来，以检验时间听觉加工的心理物理和电生理测量之间的关系。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The overall aim of this project is to examine the relationship between psychophysical and electrophysiological (i.e., cortical) measures of temporal gap detection in young adults with normal hearing; in children and elderly adults with normal hearing; and in individuals with known CNS lesions and auditory-based learning disorders. Rapid temporal processing is critically important in perception of speech and music, as well as in sound localization. Previous research has demonstrated that psychophysical gap thresholds in infants and elderly adults are poorer than in young adults, and that electrophysiological gap detection measures may show age-specific differences not illuminated with psychophysical tasks. Furthermore, it has been suggested that gap thresholds obtained using broadband stimuli reflects only neural activity of high frequency fibers. It has been demonstrated both psychophysically and electrophysiologically that gap thresholds are frequency-dependent when using frequency-specific stimuli. Taken together, the neural patterns for temporal gap detection abilities may differ across the lifespan and that frequency-specific measures of temporal processing may illuminate frequency-specific auditory processing disorders. This study is proposed to bring together these converging lines of research to examine the relationship between psychophysical and electrophysiological measures of temporal auditory processing.