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CAPD > Review of Auditory Neuroscience > Flashcards

Review of Auditory Neuroscience Flashcards

1
Q

What is cerebral cortex?

A

Extensive thin outer layer of unmyelinated gray matter of the brain covering each cerebral hemisphere
It is crumpled and folded, forming numerous convolutions (gyri) and crevices (sulci)
It is made up of several layers of nerve cells and the nerve pathways that connect them
It is responsible for the processes of thought, perception, reasoning, and memory
It also is responsible for advanced motor function, social abilities, language, and problem solving

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2
Q

Is embryonic development of the cerebral cortex under control of many genes?

A

Yes
Many things can go wrong during embryogenesis as well as after birth resulting in congenital malformations and functional or developmental issues
Nerve cells in the cerebral cortex are known to die in Alzheimer and other diseases that affect the brain

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3
Q

What are broadmann’s areas?

A

Neurologist assigned numbers (1-52) to the cerebral cortex based on the histology and cell layers

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4
Q

Generally, which way does information flow in the brain?

A

From back to front

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5
Q

What does the brain expend most of its energy doing?

A

Packaging sensory input from all available modalities into a coherent view of the environment
Example:
Vision is combined with somatosensory information to give a sense of where one’s body is in space
Memory functions in the temporal lobe allow for recognition of the visual perceptions
The processed sensory input finally makes its way to the frontal lobe where decisions are made regarding what to do with the various stimuli

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6
Q

What is executive function?

A

Refers to higher-level cognitive skills used to control/coordinate other cognitive abilities and behaviors
Executive functions are like the chief executive that monitors all the different departments so that the company can move forward efficiently and effectively
The frontal lobe, specifically the prefrontal cortex, is involved in executive function

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7
Q

What are the two categories of executive functions?

A

Organizational abilities (attention, planning, sequencing, problem-solving, working memory, cognitive flexibility, abstract thinking, selecting relevant sensory info)
Regulation abilities (initiation to action, self-control, emotional regulation, monitoring internal and external stimuli, initiating and inhibiting context-specific behavior, moral reasoning, and decision making)

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8
Q

What is broadmann area 41?

A

Heschel’s gyrus

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9
Q

What is broadmann area 22?

A

Wernicke

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10
Q

What is the supramarginal gyrus?

A

Involved in phonological and articulatory processing of words

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11
Q

What is the planum temporale?

A

An area situated on the superior temporal gyrus just posterior to the auditory cortex (Heschl’s gyrus) within the Sylvian fissure
It forms the heart of Wernicke’s area and is one of the most important functional areas for language and music
Shows a significant leftward asymmetry in normal individuals
The leftward asymmetry is reduced in individuals with language issues such as dyslexia and schizophrenia
Large asymmetry in musicians too

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12
Q

What is the grey matter used for?

A

Computation, thinking, memory, storage, etc.

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13
Q

What is the white matter used for?

A

Allows different parts of the brain to communicate with each other

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14
Q

What is the corpus callosum?

A

The axons connecting one hemisphere of the brain to the other
It is the largest collection of white matter within the brain
It contains a high myelin content, which facilitates quicker transmission of information
Connects the hemispheres and makes one brain

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15
Q

What is the thalamus?

A

It is a large mass of grey matter in the posterior forebrain
It is the main relay center for the nervous system including hearing

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16
Q

What is the hypothalamus?

A

It lies below the thalamus
It is vital for temperature control, emotional states, and control over the autonomic nervous system

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17
Q

What are excitatory synapses?

A

Post-synaptic membrane potentials decrease allowing the cell to fire

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18
Q

What are inhibitory synapses?

A

Post-synaptic membrane potentials increase making it less likely for the cell to fire

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19
Q

What is encoding?

A

To put the signal into code at the cochlear level

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20
Q

What is decoding?

A

The cortical primary and association areas breaking down the auditory signal into its constituent parts

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21
Q

Are different neurons sensitive to different things?

A

Yes
Some neurons have complex temporal properties
Some neurons are binaurally sensitive
Some neurons are sensitive to interaural intensity differences (high frequency)
Some neurons are sensitive to interaural time differences (low frequency)

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22
Q

What are the three main regions of the auditory cortex?

A

Core (A1) - located in the Heschl’s gyrus of the superior temporal lobe, tonotopically organized, meaning that neurons in different parts of the core respond to different frequencies
Belt (A2) - the area immediately surrounding the core
Parabelt (A3) - the area adjacent to the lateral side of the belt

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23
Q

Is the exact boundary between the core and the belt difficult to determine?

A

Yes
The boundaries are imprecise

24
Q

What is the auditory cortex involved in?

A

Perceiving the pitch of a sound
Determining where a sound is coming from
Identifying the source of a sound
Recognizing aspects of sound that are specific to speech

25
Q

What is A1 involved in?

A

Conscious awareness of sound
receives point-to-point input from the ventral division of the medial geniculate complex, and therefore, contains a precise tonotopic map

26
Q

What is A2 involved in?

A

Predominantly innervated by the core auditory areas in addition to more diffuse input from the medial and dorsal divisions of the medial geniculate nucleus and, therefore, are less precise in their tonotopic organization
These cells may show frequency tuning in response to pure tones or narrowband noise

27
Q

What is A3 involved in?

A

They represent the next level in the auditory hierarchy
They are principally innervated by belt areas and project to auditory association areas concerned with memory or decision-making
Unlikely to respond to pure tones but rather respond to complex stimuli (speech) - closer to wernickes
When complex stimuli (speech) are detected then the information is more likely to be processed by Wernicke’s area

28
Q

Are neurons responding to auditory stimulation found in every region of the cortex?

A

Yes
Why it is so important

29
Q

How do we know that vision and hearing are connected?

A

When you hear a sound, you might imagine where you were when you heard it for the first time

30
Q

What are the auditory related areas?

A

Areas that process auditory information outside of the primary auditory cortex
Receive some input from the auditory cortex but generally not significant inputs from the medial geniculate complex
Located in the temporal love, portions of the superior temporal sulcus, intraparietal sulcus, prefrontal cortex)

31
Q

What are the key functions of the primary auditory cortex?

A

The neurons can precisely represent the timing of phonetically important components of speech
They code rapid acoustic events necessary for fine grain discrimination
They develop concepts of auditory space for localization

32
Q

Is wernickes an auditory association area?

A

Yes
Memory of sound, therefore, recognition of words and spoken language
Contributes to language formation
Reading and writing
Processing involves multi-modality and multi-function integration

33
Q

What does A1 receive info from?

A

Medical geniculate complex of the thalamus
After being processed by brainstem nuclei including the cochlear nuclei, superior olivary complex, lateral lemniscus, and inferior colliculus

34
Q

Is the left hemisphere dominant for language?

A

Yes
In most
Primarily involved in analytic syntactic and semantic linguistic processing, phonologic analysis, discrimination, and word retrieval

35
Q

What is the right hemisphere involved in perceiving?

A

Non-linguistic stimuli
Rhythm
Stress
Nonlinguistic acoustic parameters
Perception of acoustic contours
Discrimination and ordering of tonal stimuli
Prosodic elements of speech (asking a question or making a statement, etc.)

36
Q

Is hemispheric lateralization absolute?

A

No
No area is absolute, all of them have overlap

37
Q

Do both language and music participate in both hemispheres rather than just one?

A

Yes
Recent studies suggest that components of music and language, rather than the entire functions, may be lateralized to one or the other hemisphere

38
Q

What are the auditory functions of the corpus callosum?

A

Dichotic listening
Binaural listening and localization
Auditory figure-ground (more than one signal, background noise)
Perception of midline fusion (sound coming from the center or sides)

39
Q

What language functions of the corpus callosum?

A

Phonologic processing
Linking of prosodic and linguistic input for judging communicative intent
Development of interhemispheric specialization
Syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic functions

40
Q

What can damage to the CC do?

A

Can have a significant impact on the interhemispheric exchange of cognitive, sensory, and motor information

41
Q

Are the processed behind speech perception fully understood?

A

No

42
Q

What is the superior temporal gyrus sensitive to?

A

Verbal as well as nonverbal cues
Gestures, eye gaze, and facial movements, suggesting a gross heterogeneous response

43
Q

Does speech-specific processing appear to increase with distance from the primary auditory cortex?

A

Yes

44
Q

Is attentional modulation identified in the early auditory cortex?

A

Yes
Part of the auditory cortex but not the primary auditory cortex

45
Q

Why is it difficult to establish the exact role of the primary auditory cortex in speech perception?

A

Response in the primary auditory cortex is highly plastic and context dependent
The primary auditory cortex extracts the constant sound properties and for that it has to rely on information from both the ascending auditory pathways as well as top-down modulations
Removal of the primary auditory cortex will allow for pure tones being heard but speech will not be processed so it does have some input in speech processing

46
Q

What are the top down influences on speech processing?

A

Non-perceptual systems interact with processing of speech and sound, in relation to attention, level of difficulty, and integration with linguistic information
These areas are located outside of the temporal lobe (linguistic areas in the angular and inferior frontal gyrus, areas associated with semantic processing in medial frontal cortex, areas associated with nonlinguistic EC and attention)

47
Q

What are the two ways that top down information can interact with perceptual information?

A

An automatic manner (based on predictability of speech) or
A deliberate manner like paying attention to speech in noise

48
Q

Are most cortical auditory neurons influenced by binaural input?

A

Yes
Spatial recognition
Some of these neurons contain cells with predominantly suppressive binaural interaction (often showing an excitatory input from the contralateral ear and an inhibitory input from the ipsilateral ear)
These neurons are probably restricted to cortical areas in the same cerebral hemisphere

49
Q

Do some neurons have summative binaural interactions?

A

Yes
Typically reflecting a net excitatory input from each ear
Cells with summative action are probably the same neurons that have spatial receptive fields centered on the midline or which are omnidirectional
These neurons probably also have stronger corpus callosal connectivity

50
Q

What is spatial information carried by intra-hemispheric connectivity dominated by?

A

Contra hemisphere

51
Q

What is spatial information carried inter-hemispherically dominated by?

A

Not contra

52
Q

Is spatial processing mediated by two perceptual channels?

A

Yes
Each with hemifield azimuth tuning with medial borders overlapping in the midline
Spatial processing of sources near the midline probably depends on outputs from both perceptual channels
But spatial processing of sources deep in one or other auditory hemifield is dominated by one or the other perceptual channel

53
Q

If speech and noise fall in different spatial channels, is it easier to listen to and understand?

A

Yes
It is therefore, not the absolute separation of speech and noise alone that offers a perceptual advantage but rather the extent to which each falls into separate spatial channels allowing for greater selective scrutiny

54
Q

Is little known about the efferent pathways?

A

Yes
We do know that like the ascending pathways, there is probably more than a few descending (efferent) pathways as well
Efferent fibers run from the auditory cortex to the cochlea
They are known to mediate several auditory mechanisms (excitatory and inhibitory, the olivocochlear bundle (OCB) extends from SOC to fibers to cochlear hair cells (it may play a role in attention), the medial OCB is believed to bring about OAE suppression)

55
Q

What is the primary role of OHCs?

A

To produce high sensitivity and sharp tuning of sound input in the cochlea

56
Q

Why is it likely that OHCs are partly under control of higher centers of the auditory system?

A

There are ~ 1800 efferent nerve fibers that carry information from the CANS to the cochlea
Most are believed to originate in the SOC in the brainstem
Many efferent fibers make contact with OHCS affecting their activity
It appears, therefore, that even the earliest stages of auditory sound analysis are under at least partial control of the higher centers

CAPD (13 decks)

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