A proposed neural mechanism underlying auditory continuity illusions Articles uri icon

authors

  • VINNIK, EKATERINA
  • BALABAN, EVAN STUART
  • ITSKOV, PAVEL

publication date

  • July 2010

start page

  • EL20

end page

  • EL25

issue

  • 1

volume

  • 128

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0001-4966

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1520-8524

abstract

  • A numerical thought experiment was conducted to assess whether stimulus-specific, short-term changes in auditory neural responsiveness could explain the formation of auditory objects underlying the auditory continuity illusion. A tonotopic, two-layer feedforward network model with one time constant for synaptic weight augmentation based on firing rate, and an independent time constant for synaptic weight decay was presented with classical continuity illusion stimuli. The results suggest that the continuity illusion could, in principle, be explained by basic, duration-dependent auditory circuit behavior, which could emerge at either early or later stages of processing.

subjects

  • Biology and Biomedicine

keywords

  • speech communication; speech sounds; auditory system; acoustic phenomena; plasticity; thought experiments; cognitive science; chemical elements; nerve cells; neurophysiology