Corrigendum: Probing auditory scene analysis.

[This corrects the article on p. 293 in vol. 8, PMID: 25309314.]

Probing neural mechanisms underlying auditory stream segregation in humans by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

One hypothesis concerning the neural underpinnings of auditory streaming states that frequency tuning of tonotopically organized neurons in primary auditory fields in combination with physiological forward suppression is necessary for the separation of representations of high-frequency A and low-frequency B tones. The extent of spatial overlap between the tonotopic activations of A and B tones is thought to underlie the perceptual organization of streaming sequences into one coherent or two separate streams. The present study attempts to interfere with these mechanisms by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and to probe behavioral outcomes reflecting the perception of ABAB streaming sequences. We hypothesized that tDCS by modulating cortical excitability causes a change in the separateness of the representations of A and B tones, which leads to a change in the proportions of one-stream and two-stream percepts. To test this, 22 subjects were presented with ambiguous ABAB sequences of three different frequency separations (∆F) and had to decide on their current percept after receiving sham, anodal, or cathodal tDCS over the left auditory cortex. We could confirm our hypothesis at the most ambiguous ∆F condition of 6 semitones. For anodal compared with sham and cathodal stimulation, we found a significant decrease in the proportion of two-stream perception and an increase in the proportion of one-stream perception. The results demonstrate the feasibility of using tDCS to probe mechanisms underlying auditory streaming through the use of various behavioral measures. Moreover, this approach allows one to probe the functions of auditory regions and their interactions with other processing stages

Decision making and ambiguity in auditory stream segregation

Researchers of auditory stream segregation have largely taken a bottom-up view on the link between physical stimulus parameters and the perceptual organization of sequences of ABAB sounds. However, in the majority of studies, researchers have relied on the reported decisions of the subjects regarding which of the predefined percepts (e.g., one stream or two streams) predominated when subjects listened to more or less ambiguous streaming sequences. When searching for neuronal mechanisms of stream segregation, it should be kept in mind that such decision processes may contribute to brain activation, as also suggested by recent human imaging data. The present study proposes that the uncertainty of a subject in making a decision about the perceptual organization of ambiguous streaming sequences may be reflected in the time required to make an initial decision. To this end, subjects had to decide on their current percept while listening to ABAB auditory streaming sequences. Each sequence had a duration of 30 s and was composed of A and B harmonic tone complexes differing in fundamental frequency (∆F). Sequences with seven different ∆F were tested. We found that the initial decision time varied non-monotonically with ∆F and that it was significantly correlated with the degree of perceptual ambiguity defined from the proportions of time the subjects reported a one-stream or a two-stream percept subsequent to the first decision. This strong relation of the proposed measures of decision uncertainty and perceptual ambiguity should be taken into account when searching for neural correlates of auditory stream segregation