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auditory cortex

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·October 2, 2019·4 min read

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.

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·September 23, 2019·2 min read

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.

This shows a child coloring with crayons

Autism Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·September 18, 2019·4 min read

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.

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·August 28, 2019·3 min read

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.

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 12, 2019·5 min read

Brain-computer interfacing technology uses music to make people happy

A new brain-machine interface technology can enhance emotional interaction with music.

This shows a man with light radiating out of his head

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neurology Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·June 18, 2019·3 min read

Reducing brain inflammation could treat tinnitus and other hearing loss-related disorders

Rodent study reveals noise-induced hearing loss is associated with elevated expression of proinflammatory cytokines and microglia activation in the primary auditory cortex. Pharmacologically depleting microglia helps prevent tinnitus in mice with noise-induced hearing loss.

The auditory cortex is highlighted in this brain scan

Featured Neuroscience Neuroscience Videos

·June 10, 2019·4 min read

Our brains appear uniquely tuned for musical pitch

Study of macaque monkeys reveals speech and music may have shaped the human brain's auditory networks. Researchers found specific areas of the human brain have a stronger preference for pitch than that of primates, raising the possibility certain sounds, which are embedded in music and speech, may have shaped the organization of our brains.

This shows a brain with the frontal lobes highlighted

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·April 3, 2019·4 min read

Study illuminates the brain’s inner workings

Study explores how large scale patterns of brain activity can vary between cognitive systems, and across people.

this is a brain scan from one of the patients in the study

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience

·March 21, 2019·4 min read

Brain region discovered that only processes spoken, not written words

A small, preliminary study helps researchers identify a region of the brain that specializes in the processing of auditory words.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·March 20, 2019·4 min read

How our body ‘listens’ to vibrations

Neurons in the somatosensory cortex encode vibration frequency in a similar manner to the way in which sound pitch is encoded in the auditory cortex.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·March 14, 2019·5 min read

Brain Wave Stimulation May Improve Alzheimer’s Symptoms

Multisensory gamma wave stimulation improves recognition and spatial memory, in addition to reducing amyloid in the auditory cortex and hippocampal CA1 areas of mice. Findings suggest such sensory stimulation boosts hippocampal function and reduces Alzheimer's linked pathologies throughout the neocortex.