State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Technology and Systems, Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology (TNList), Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University Beijing, China.
State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Technology and Systems, Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology (TNList), Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University Beijing, China ; Center for Brain-Inspired Computing Research (CBICR), Tsinghua University Beijing, China.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2015 Apr 16;9:203. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00203. eCollection 2015.
Sound localization is an important function of the human brain, but the underlying cortical mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we recorded auditory stimuli in three-dimensional space and then replayed the stimuli through earphones during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). By employing a machine learning algorithm, we successfully decoded sound location from the blood oxygenation level-dependent signals in the temporal lobe. Analysis of the data revealed that different cortical patterns were evoked by sounds from different locations. Specifically, discrimination of sound location along the abscissa axis evoked robust responses in the left posterior superior temporal gyrus (STG) and right mid-STG, discrimination along the elevation (EL) axis evoked robust responses in the left posterior middle temporal lobe (MTL) and right STG, and discrimination along the ordinate axis evoked robust responses in the left mid-MTL and right mid-STG. These results support a distributed representation of acoustic space in human cortex.
声音定位是人类大脑的一项重要功能，但皮质的潜在机制尚不清楚。在这项研究中，我们在三维空间中记录听觉刺激，然后在功能磁共振成像 (fMRI) 期间通过耳机重放刺激。通过采用机器学习算法，我们成功地从颞叶的血氧水平依赖信号中解码声音位置。数据分析显示，不同位置的声音引起不同的皮质模式。具体而言，沿横坐标方向的声音位置辨别引起左侧后上颞回 (STG) 和右侧中 STG 的强烈反应，沿仰角 (EL) 轴的声音位置辨别引起左侧后颞中回 (MTL) 和右侧 STG 的强烈反应，沿纵坐标方向的声音位置辨别引起左侧中 MTL 和右侧中 STG 的强烈反应。这些结果支持了人类大脑中声音空间的分布式表示。
