Title
Encoding of natural timbre dimensions in human auditory cortex.
Abstract
Timbre, or sound quality, is a crucial but poorly understood dimension of auditory perception that is important in describing speech, music, and environmental sounds. The present study investigates the cortical representation of different timbral dimensions. Encoding models have typically incorporated the physical characteristics of sounds as features when attempting to understand their neural representation with functional MRI. Here we test an encoding model that is based on five subjectively derived dimensions of timbre to predict cortical responses to natural orchestral sounds. Results show that this timbre model can outperform other models based on spectral characteristics, and can perform as well as a complex joint spectrotemporal modulation model. In cortical regions at the medial border of Heschl's gyrus, bilaterally, and regions at its posterior adjacency in the right hemisphere, the timbre model outperforms even the complex joint spectrotemporal modulation model. These findings suggest that the responses of cortical neuronal populations in auditory cortex may reflect the encoding of perceptual timbre dimensions.
Year
DOI
Venue
2018
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.10.050
NeuroImage
Keywords
Field
DocType
Auditory cortex,Encoding models,Music,Perception,Timbre
Auditory cortex,Psychology,Speech recognition,Sound quality,Gyrus,Tonotopy,Complex joint,Perception,Timbre,Encoding (memory)
Journal
Volume
ISSN
Citations 
166
1053-8119
2
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.41
8
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Emily J. Allen120.41
Michelle Moerel2545.77
Agustin Lage-Castellanos351.15
Federico De Martino432520.34
Elia Formisano577858.91
Andrew Oxenham6356.76