Cortical Representations of Harmonic and Virtual Pitch in Humans

1个项目摘要/摘要 音高和和声在人们对语言和音乐的感知中起着决定性的作用，并且对 3听觉场景中声音的知觉组织。听力损失的听众，以及 4尤其是那些植入了人工耳蜗的人，他们在音调感知能力方面存在显著缺陷，因为 5当前的声音处理策略不能提供健壮的音调提示。尽管我们的 6了解音调是如何在我们的听觉系统中感知、编码和表示的，有以下几点 在我们对音高，特别是和声的基本理解上，仍然有很大的差距 8在听觉皮质有表达。更好地了解涉及的神经转换 音调感知应该有助于设计更有效的神经和声学假体。整体而言 10拟议项目的目标是了解音调和和声的神经表示以及 11阐明时间整合在音调知觉中的作用，使用行为的组合 12(心理声学)、电生理学(EEG)和神经成像技术(FMRI)。在被指导者中 在这个项目的K99阶段，候选人将对这两个主要主题进行研究。 14个功能磁共振成像将被用来研究和声复音的哪些特性在 15个听皮质前外侧区(目标1)。使用仔细控制的刺激，这项研究应该 16为和声是否比非和声引起更强的反应提供了有力的证据 听觉皮质17例。候选人还将使用一种新颖的方式进行一系列行为实验 18刺激，产生虚幻的虚拟音调感知，为量化 19控制音高知觉的时间整合的参数(目标2)。这些行为 20个实验将增加对音调感知的时间方面的关键理解，而这些方面并不是 21在当前的音高感知模型中被考虑在内。在项目的R00阶段，候选人 22将利用目标1和目标2的技术和发现来研究音高的两个重要方面 23加工和知觉。目标2中研究的刺激的新修改将用于 24一项功能磁共振研究，以区分不同感知模式的听的皮质表征， 25即综合型和分析型。此外，这种刺激还将用于脑电研究，以探索 26基音起始反应(POR)的神经关联。总体而言，这个项目将与感性 27对神经生理学发现的幻觉刺激的特征，以提供新的见解 28音调感知领域，这反过来又可以推动新音调处理的发展 29种听力修复策略。在此奖项期间进行的研究和提供的培训将 30使候选人能够实现她的目标，即开发一个独立的研究计划， 31采用神经生理学和行为学的方法来研究听觉现象。

1 PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT 2 Pitch and harmonicity play a defining role in the perception of speech and music, and are crucial for 3 the perceptual organization of sounds in an auditory scene. Listeners with hearing loss, and 4 especially those with cochlear implants, suffer from a striking deficit in pitch perception abilities, as 5 current sound processing strategies are unable to provide robust pitch cues. Despite advances in our 6 understanding of how pitch is perceived, coded, and represented in our auditory system, there are 7 still significant gaps in our basic understanding of how pitch, and especially harmonicity, is 8 represented in the auditory cortex. A better understanding of the neural transformations involved in 9 pitch perception should help in designing more effective neural and acoustic prostheses. The overall 10 goal of the proposed project is to understand the neural representation of pitch and harmonicity and 11 elucidate the role of temporal integration in pitch perception using a combination of behavioral 12 (psychoacoustics), electrophysiology (EEG), and neuroimaging techniques (fMRI). In the mentored 13 K99 phase of this project, the candidate will conduct research on both of these overarching themes. 14 fMRI will be used to investigate what properties of harmonic complex tones are represented in 15 anterior-lateral regions of auditory cortex (Aim 1). Using carefully controlled stimuli, this study should 16 provide strong evidence for whether harmonic tones elicit a stronger response than inharmonic tones 17 in auditory cortex. The candidate will also conduct a series of behavioral experiments using a novel 18 stimulus that produces an illusory virtual pitch percept, to provide empirical data for quantifying the 19 parameters governing temporal integration in the perception of pitch (Aim 2). These behavioral 20 experiments will add crucial understanding of the temporal aspects of pitch perception, which are not 21 taken into account in current pitch perception models. In the R00 phase of the project, the candidate 22 will utilize the techniques and findings of Aims 1 and 2 to study two important aspects of pitch 23 processing and perception. A novel modification of the stimulus investigated in Aim 2 will be utilized in 24 an fMRI study to differentiate the cortical representations of different perceptual modes of listening, 25 namely synthetic and analytic. Additionally, this stimulus will also be used in an EEG study to explore 26 the neural correlates of the Pitch Onset Response (POR). Overall, this project will relate perceptual 27 characterizations of the illusory stimulus to neurophysiological findings to provide new insights to the 28 field of pitch perception, which in turn could motivate the development of novel pitch processing 29 strategies in auditory prostheses. The research performed and training provided during this award will 30 enable the candidate to achieve her goal of developing an independent research program that 31 employs both neurophysiological and behavioral approaches to investigate auditory phenomena.