Using a cappella to explain speech and music specialization
Using Cappella recordings, researchers discover humans have developed complementary neural systems in each hemisphere for auditory stimuli.... Read More...
auditory cortex
Sensory perception is not superficial brain work
When exposed to auditory stimulation, visual areas of the brain decreased in activity. Findings suggest sound can strongly draw attention away from what we are looking at.... Read More...
Abnormal neuron activity manifests as parental neglect
Abnormal activation of parvalbumin neurons in the young mouse auditory cortex manifests as a result of maternal neglect.... Read More...
Hearing through lip-reading
Lip reading causes brain activity to synchronize with sound waves, even when there is no audible sound.... Read More...
New pathways in brain’s amygdala discovered
Study provides evidence of the existence of a long-rage inhibitory pathway from the auditory cortex to the amygdala in the brains of mice. ... Read More...
Enjoyment of pop music classics linked to combination of uncertainty and surprise
Combining neuroimaging data with machine learning, researchers report musical pleasure depends on a dynamic interplay between prospective and retrospective states of expectation.... Read More...
How the brain dials up the volume to hear someone in a crowd
When a person listens to another person talking, their brain waves alter to select specific features of the speaker's voice and tune out other voices.... Read More...
The propensity to hear ‘voices’ in Schizophrenia may be established by infancy
People with schizophrenia who experience auditory hallucinations have greater activation in specific areas of the auditory cortex in response to sound frequencies. The mapping of sound frequency in the auditory cortex is scrambled in those with schizophrenia, suggesting a disruption in the normal processes for organized sound representation in the brain. As the tonotopic map is established during infancy and remains stable throughout life, the findings suggest vulnerability for auditory hallucinations is linked to defects in the organization of the auditory system during infantile development. This precedes speech development and the onset of psychiatric symptoms.... Read More...
How the brain repurposes unused regions
There is an underlying organization that dictates how the visual cortex is repurposed in blind people, which is not random. ... Read More...
Brain imaging shows how nonverbal children with autism have slower response to sounds
Nonverbal children on the autism spectrum have a slower response to auditory stimulation. The longer response times were associated with poor communication skills. Brain imaging of the auditory cortex could serve as a biomarker for measuring the likelihood of language impairment in those with ASD.... Read More...
New findings on human speech recognition
Increased activity of the ventromedial geniculate body indicates the processing of auditory information begins before the auditory pathways reach the cerebral cortex.... Read More...
Brain-computer interfacing technology uses music to make people happy
A new brain-machine interface technology can enhance emotional interaction with music. ... Read More...