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A frontal but not parietal neural correlate of auditory consciousness

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Abstract

Hemodynamic correlates of consciousness were investigated in humans during the presentation of a dichotic sequence inducing illusory auditory percepts with features analogous to visual multistability. The sequence consisted of a variation of the original stimulation eliciting the Deutsch’s octave illusion, created to maintain a stable illusory percept long enough to allow the detection of the underlying hemodynamic activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Two specular 500 ms dichotic stimuli (400 and 800 Hz) presented in alternation by means of earphones cause an illusory segregation of pitch and ear of origin which can yield up to four different auditory percepts per dichotic stimulus. Such percepts are maintained stable when one of the two dichotic stimuli is presented repeatedly for 6 s, immediately after the alternation. We observed hemodynamic activity specifically accompanying conscious experience of pitch in a bilateral network including the superior frontal gyrus (SFG, BA9 and BA10), medial frontal gyrus (BA6 and BA9), insula (BA13), and posterior lateral nucleus of the thalamus. Conscious experience of side (ear of origin) was instead specifically accompanied by bilateral activity in the MFG (BA6), STG (BA41), parahippocampal gyrus (BA28), and insula (BA13). These results suggest that the neural substrate of auditory consciousness, differently from that of visual consciousness, may rest upon a fronto-temporal rather than upon a fronto-parietal network. Moreover, they indicate that the neural correlates of consciousness depend on the specific features of the stimulus and suggest the SFG-MFG and the insula as important cortical nodes for auditory conscious experience.

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Acknowledgments

This research is part of the project EDCBNL (Evolution and Development of Cognitive, Behavioral and Neural Lateralization, 2006–2010), supported by the Commission of the European Communities within the framework of the specific research and technological development programme “Integrating and strengthening the European Research Area” (initiative “What it means to be human”), through a financial grant to LT.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Experimental Psychology, Department of Psychological Sciences, Humanities and the Territory, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti and Pescara, Via dei Vestini 31, 66100, Chieti Scalo, Italy

    Alfredo Brancucci, Victor Lugli & Luca Tommasi

  2. Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti and Pescara, Via dei Vestini 31, 66100, Chieti Scalo, Italy

    Mauro Gianni Perrucci & Cosimo Del Gratta

  3. ITAB, Institute for Advanced Biomedical Technologies, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti and Pescara, Via dei Vestini 31, 66100, Chieti Scalo, Italy

    Mauro Gianni Perrucci & Cosimo Del Gratta

Authors
  1. Alfredo Brancucci
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  2. Victor Lugli
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  3. Mauro Gianni Perrucci
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  4. Cosimo Del Gratta
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  5. Luca Tommasi
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Correspondence to Alfredo Brancucci.

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Brancucci, A., Lugli, V., Perrucci, M.G. et al. A frontal but not parietal neural correlate of auditory consciousness. Brain Struct Funct 221, 463–472 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-014-0918-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-014-0918-2

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