EEG evidence of auditory size perception in adults and infants

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event EEG evidence of auditory size perception in adults and infants Martin Vestergaard1, 2*, R. D. Patterson1, F. Pulvermüller2, G. P. Háden3, Yury Shtyrov2 and I Winkler3, 4 1 Department of Physiology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom 2 INSERM, Ecole Normale Superieure, United Kingdom 3 Institute for Psychology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary 4 Institute of Psychology, University of Szeged, Hungary Auditory size perception refers to the ability to make accurate judgments of the size of a sound source based solely upon the sound emitted from the source. The two parameters that specify the size of a sound source are pitch and resonance. Communication sounds thus contain pitch and resonance cues that code for the size of the speaker but that are unrelated to the phonetic identity of the speech sounds. However, the human auditory system has a remarkable ability to recognize speech despite the acoustic variability associated with differences in speaker size. It has therefore been suggested that the auditory system pre-processes sound to detect and normalize for pitch and resonance, and that our ability to make judgments about the size of sound sources is based on parametric by-products of this pre-processing. For example, based solely on sound, humans can make reliable judgments about the weight and the relative size of speakers, as well as the relative size of musical instruments. Since most animal calls are pulse-resonance sounds, pitch and resonance can code for animal size in most animate communication sounds. Humans and other animals can thus use the size information encoded in communication sounds to adapt their behavior. The ability to gauge the size of the members of a species – be it a predator or a suitor – probably has an evolutionary basis. According to this notion, the auditory system operates an innate frequency code that associates low frequencies with large sources and high frequencies with small sources. Within a behavioral context, anatomical size is interpreted as dominance (for large animals) and submissiveness (for small animals). Because such behavior appears early within life it is often assumed that normalization and detection of auditory size is an innate automatic process. We collected electro-physiological and behavioral data to test whether sound-source size parameters are detected from task irrelevant sequences of communication sounds in adults and newborn infants. The MMN obtained from adults indexed automatic detection of changes in size for voices, musical instruments and animal calls. Neonates detected changes in the size of a musical instrument. The data are consistent with the notion that auditory size-deviant detection in humans is an innate automatic process. This conclusion is compatible with the theory that the ability to assess the size of sound sources evolved because it provided selective advantage of being able to detect competent suitors and dangerous predators. Conference: MMN 09 Fifth Conference on Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and its Clinical and Scientific Applications, Budapest, Hungary, 4 Apr - 7 Apr, 2009. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster Presentations Citation: Vestergaard M, Patterson RD, Pulvermüller F, Háden GP, Shtyrov Y and Winkler I (2009). EEG evidence of auditory size perception in adults and infants. Conference Abstract: MMN 09 Fifth Conference on Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and its Clinical and Scientific Applications. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.05.106 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 26 Mar 2009; Published Online: 26 Mar 2009. * Correspondence: Martin Vestergaard, Department of Physiology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, mdv23@cam.ac.uk Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Martin Vestergaard R. D Patterson F. Pulvermüller G. P Háden Yury Shtyrov I Winkler Google Martin Vestergaard R. D Patterson F. Pulvermüller G. P Háden Yury Shtyrov I Winkler Google Scholar Martin Vestergaard R. D Patterson F. Pulvermüller G. P Háden Yury Shtyrov I Winkler PubMed Martin Vestergaard R. D Patterson F. Pulvermüller G. P Háden Yury Shtyrov I Winkler Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.