The processing of temporal pitch and melody information in auditory cortex

Authors

Roy D Patterson
Stefan Uppenkamp
Ingrid Johnsrude, Western UniversityFollow
Timothy D Griffiths

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-14-2002

Journal

Neuron

Volume

36

Issue

4

First Page

767

Last Page

776

URL with Digital Object Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0896-6273(02)01060-7

Abstract

An fMRI experiment was performed to identify the main stages of melody processing in the auditory pathway. Spectrally matched sounds that produce no pitch, fixed pitch, or melody were all found to activate Heschl's gyrus (HG) and planum temporale (PT). Within this region, sounds with pitch produced more activation than those without pitch only in the lateral half of HG. When the pitch was varied to produce a melody, there was activation in regions beyond HG and PT, specifically in the superior temporal gyrus (STG) and planum polare (PP). The results support the view that there is hierarchy of pitch processing in which the center of activity moves anterolaterally away from primary auditory cortex as the processing of melodic sounds proceeds.

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