The Concept of Auditory Stimulus Representation in Cognitive Neuroscience

The sequence of neurophysiological processes elicited in the auditory system by a sound is analyzed in search of the stage at which the processes carrying sensory information cross the borderline beyond which they directly underlie sound perception. Neurophysiological data suggest that this transiti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological bulletin 1999-11, Vol.125 (6), p.826-859
Main Authors: Näätänen, Risto, Winkler, István
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anatomical correlates of behavior
Auditory Cortex - physiology
Auditory Pathways - physiology
Auditory Perception
Auditory Perception - physiology
Auditory sensory processing
Auditory Stimulation
Awareness - physiology
Bats
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain
Brain Mapping
Cognition
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive neurosciences
Cognitive Processes
Concept Formation - physiology
Evoked Potentials, Auditory - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Neurology
Neurophysiology
Neuroscience
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Sound
Stages
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Summary:The sequence of neurophysiological processes elicited in the auditory system by a sound is analyzed in search of the stage at which the processes carrying sensory information cross the borderline beyond which they directly underlie sound perception. Neurophysiological data suggest that this transition occurs when the sensory input is mapped onto the physiological basis of sensory memory in the auditory cortex. At this point, the sensory information carried by the stimulus-elicited process corresponds, for the first time, to that contained by the actual sound percept. Before this stage, the sensory stimulus code is fragmentary, lacks the time dimension, cannot enter conscious perception, and is not accessible to top-down processes (voluntary mental operations). On these grounds, 2 distinct stages of auditory sensory processing, prerepresentational and representational, can be distinguished.
ISSN:0033-2909
1939-1455
DOI:10.1037/0033-2909.125.6.826