Laterality in the perception of temporal cues of musical timbre

Brancucci, Alfredo; Martini, Pietro San

doi:10.1016/s0028-3932(99)00065-2

Cited by 42 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Finally, some studies have suggested a left-ear advantage for tonal stimuli [26], [27], [28]. Though any ear advantage should have been controlled for by the counterbalanced presentation of each tone at the two ears, we analyzed if such an advantage was present in the current study.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Test of Attention in Listening (TAIL) Predicts Auditory Performance

et al. 2012

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Attention modulates auditory perception, but there are currently no simple tests that specifically quantify this modulation. To fill the gap, we developed a new, easy-to-use test of attention in listening (TAIL) based on reaction time. On each trial, two clearly audible tones were presented sequentially, either at the same or different ears. The frequency of the tones was also either the same or different (by at least two critical bands). When the task required same/different frequency judgments, presentation at the same ear significantly speeded responses and reduced errors. A same/different ear (location) judgment was likewise facilitated by keeping tone frequency constant. Perception was thus influenced by involuntary orienting of attention along the task-irrelevant dimension. When information in the two stimulus dimensions were congruent (same-frequency same-ear, or different-frequency different-ear), response was faster and more accurate than when they were incongruent (same-frequency different-ear, or different-frequency same-ear), suggesting the involvement of executive control to resolve conflicts. In total, the TAIL yielded five independent outcome measures: (1) baseline reaction time, indicating information processing efficiency, (2) involuntary orienting of attention to frequency and (3) location, and (4) conflict resolution for frequency and (5) location. Processing efficiency and conflict resolution accounted for up to 45% of individual variances in the low- and high-threshold variants of three psychoacoustic tasks assessing temporal and spectral processing. Involuntary orientation of attention to the irrelevant dimension did not correlate with perceptual performance on these tasks. Given that TAIL measures are unlikely to be limited by perceptual sensitivity, we suggest that the correlations reflect modulation of perceptual performance by attention. The TAIL thus has the power to identify and separate contributions of different components of attention to auditory perception.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Test of Attention in Listening (TAIL) Predicts Auditory Performance

et al. 2012

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“…Indeed, some studies failed to detect ear asymmetries for timbre processing 12‐15. However, left‐ear advantage (LEA), indicative of a right‐hemisphere superiority, was reported in several studies using natural instruments,16‐18 synthetic sounds,19,20 and realistic or unrealistic (played backward) musical instruments 17. All of these laterality studies strongly support a right‐hemisphere priority for timbre perception.…”

Section: Laterality Studiesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Neuropsychological Studies of Musical Timbre

Samson

2003

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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Musical timbre is a multidimensional property of sound that allows one to distinguish musical instruments. In this paper, studies that explore the cerebral substrate underlying the processing of musical timbre are discussed. Perceptual asymmetries measured in normal participants, deficits of musical timbre perception obtained in brain-damaged patients, as well as results obtained with various neuroimaging methods are reviewed. The findings obtained in all of these studies generally support the predominant involvement of right temporal lobe areas, and more specifically of its anterior part, in processing spectral and temporal envelopes of musical timbre. However, controversies still exist about the contribution of the left temporal lobe in timbre perception. The necessity of comparing data obtained with different perceptual paradigms (same-different discrimination and similarity judgment) and various types of stimuli (single tones and melodies) was emphasized by reporting lesion studies carried out in patients with unilateral temporal lobe lesions. The few neuroimaging studies published in this domain provided additional and complementary findings. Unlike lesion studies that allow us to infer the cerebral structures that are essential for timbre perception, the latter investigations implicate a more distributed neural network in timbre processing that extends along the superior temporal gyrus to include not only anterior but also posterior temporal regions and possibly frontal areas as well.

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“…DL has been broadly used in the study of hemispherical asymmetries and the main result that it yielded is that, in general, subjects with left‐hemispheric language lateralization are faster and more accurate in reporting verbal items presented at the right ear (Kimura, 1961; Studdert‐Kennedy & Shankweiler, 1970). Conversely, they exhibit a left ear advantage for tasks involving the recognition of musical or environmental sounds (Kallman & Corballis, 1975; Boucher & Bryden, 1997; Brancucci & San Martini, 1999, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inhibition of auditory cortical responses to ipsilateral stimuli during dichotic listening: evidence from magnetoencephalography

Brancucci

Babiloni

et al. 2004

Eur J of Neuroscience

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The present magnetoencephalography (MEG) study on auditory evoked magnetic fields (AEFs) was aimed at verifying whether during dichotic listening the contralateral auditory pathway inhibits the ipsilateral one, as suggested by behavioural and patient studies. Ten healthy subjects were given a randomized series of three complex tones (261, 293 and 391 Hz, 500 ms duration), which were delivered monotically and dichotically with different intensities [60, 70 or 80 dBA (audio decibels)]. MEG data were recorded from the right auditory cortex. Results showed that the M100 amplitude over the right auditory cortex increased progressively when tones of increasing intensity were provided at the ipsilateral (right) ear. This effect on M100 was abolished when a concurrent tone of constant intensity was delivered dichotically at the contralateral (left) ear, suggesting that the contralateral pathway inhibited the ipsilateral one. The ipsilateral inhibition was present only when the contralateral tone fundamental frequency was similar to the ipsilateral tone. It was proposed that the occlusion mechanism would be exerted in cortical auditory areas as the dichotic effects were observed at M100 but not M50 component. This is the first evidence showing a neurophysiological inhibition driven by the contralateral auditory pathway over the ipsilateral one during dichotic listening.

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Laterality in the perception of temporal cues of musical timbre

Cited by 42 publications

References 31 publications

A New Test of Attention in Listening (TAIL) Predicts Auditory Performance

A New Test of Attention in Listening (TAIL) Predicts Auditory Performance

Neuropsychological Studies of Musical Timbre

Inhibition of auditory cortical responses to ipsilateral stimuli during dichotic listening: evidence from magnetoencephalography

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