Sangam: A Confluence of Knowledge Streams

Neural responses to natural and model-matched stimuli reveal distinct computations in primary and nonprimary auditory cortex

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dc.contributor Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
dc.contributor McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT
dc.contributor Norman-Haignere, Samuel Victor
dc.contributor McDermott, Joshua H.
dc.creator Norman-Haignere, Samuel Victor
dc.creator McDermott, Joshua H.
dc.date 2019-02-21T21:19:17Z
dc.date 2019-02-21T21:19:17Z
dc.date 2018-12
dc.date 2017-12
dc.date 2019-02-19T13:52:21Z
dc.date.accessioned 2023-03-01T18:07:07Z
dc.date.available 2023-03-01T18:07:07Z
dc.identifier 1545-7885
dc.identifier http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/120532
dc.identifier Norman-Haignere, Sam V., and Josh H. McDermott. “Neural Responses to Natural and Model-Matched Stimuli Reveal Distinct Computations in Primary and Nonprimary Auditory Cortex.” Edited by Matt Davis. PLOS Biology 16, no. 12 (December 3, 2018): e2005127. © 2018 Norman-Haignere, McDermott
dc.identifier https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3965-2503
dc.identifier.uri http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/CUHPOERS/278815
dc.description A central goal of sensory neuroscience is to construct models that can explain neural responses to natural stimuli. As a consequence, sensory models are often tested by comparing neural responses to natural stimuli with model responses to those stimuli. One challenge is that distinct model features are often correlated across natural stimuli, and thus model features can predict neural responses even if they do not in fact drive them. Here, we propose a simple alternative for testing a sensory model: we synthesize a stimulus that yields the same model response as each of a set of natural stimuli, and test whether the natural and “model-matched” stimuli elicit the same neural responses. We used this approach to test whether a common model of auditory cortex—in which spectrogram-like peripheral input is processed by linear spectrotemporal filters—can explain fMRI responses in humans to natural sounds. Prior studies have that shown that this model has good predictive power throughout auditory cortex, but this finding could reflect feature correlations in natural stimuli. We observed that fMRI responses to natural and model-matched stimuli were nearly equivalent in primary auditory cortex (PAC) but that nonprimary regions, including those selective for music or speech, showed highly divergent responses to the two sound sets. This dissociation between primary and nonprimary regions was less clear from model predictions due to the influence of feature correlations across natural stimuli. Our results provide a signature of hierarchical organization in human auditory cortex, and suggest that nonprimary regions compute higher-order stimulus properties that are not well captured by traditional models. Our methodology enables stronger tests of sensory models and could be broadly applied in other domains.
dc.description National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant BCS-1634050)
dc.format application/pdf
dc.publisher Public Library of Science
dc.relation http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2005127
dc.relation PLOS Biology
dc.rights Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
dc.rights https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.source PLoS
dc.title Neural responses to natural and model-matched stimuli reveal distinct computations in primary and nonprimary auditory cortex
dc.type Article
dc.type http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle


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