TY - JOUR
T1 - Optimizing sound features for cortical neurons
AU - DeCharms, R. Christopher
AU - Blake, David T.
AU - Merzenich, Michael M.
PY - 1998/5/29
Y1 - 1998/5/29
N2 - The brain's cerebral cortex decomposes visual images into information about oriented edges, direction and velocity information, and color. How does the cortex decompose perceived sounds? A reverse correlation technique demonstrates that neurons in the primary auditory cortex of the awake primate have complex patterns of sound-feature selectivity that indicate sensitivity to stimulus edges in frequency or in time, stimulus transitions in frequency or intensity, and feature conjunctions. This allows the creation of classes of stimuli matched to the processing characteristics of auditory cortical neurons. Stimuli designed for a particular neuron's preferred feature pattern can drive that neuron with higher sustained firing rates than have typically been recorded with simple stimuli. These data suggest that the cortex decomposes an auditory scene into component parts using a feature-processing system reminiscent of that used for the cortical decomposition of visual images.
AB - The brain's cerebral cortex decomposes visual images into information about oriented edges, direction and velocity information, and color. How does the cortex decompose perceived sounds? A reverse correlation technique demonstrates that neurons in the primary auditory cortex of the awake primate have complex patterns of sound-feature selectivity that indicate sensitivity to stimulus edges in frequency or in time, stimulus transitions in frequency or intensity, and feature conjunctions. This allows the creation of classes of stimuli matched to the processing characteristics of auditory cortical neurons. Stimuli designed for a particular neuron's preferred feature pattern can drive that neuron with higher sustained firing rates than have typically been recorded with simple stimuli. These data suggest that the cortex decomposes an auditory scene into component parts using a feature-processing system reminiscent of that used for the cortical decomposition of visual images.
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U2 - 10.1126/science.280.5368.1439
DO - 10.1126/science.280.5368.1439
M3 - Article
C2 - 9603734
AN - SCOPUS:0032577379
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 280
SP - 1439
EP - 1443
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 5368
ER -