Natural ITD statistics predict human auditory spatial perception.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 33043884.
- Also identified by DOI 10.7554/eLife.51927 and PMC identifier 7661036.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
A neural code adapted to the statistical structure of sensory cues may optimize perception. We investigated whether interaural time difference (ITD) statistics inherent in natural acoustic scenes are parameters determining spatial discriminability. The natural ITD rate of change across azimuth (ITDrc) and ITD variability over time (ITDv) were combined in a Fisher information statistic to assess the amount of azimuthal information conveyed by this sensory cue. We hypothesized that natural ITD statistics underlie the neural code for ITD and thus influence spatial perception. To test this hypothesis, sounds with invariant statistics were presented to measure human spatial discriminability and spatial novelty detection. Human auditory spatial perception showed correlation with natural ITD statistics, supporting our hypothesis. Further analysis showed that these results are consistent with classic models of ITD coding and can explain the ITD tuning distribution observed in the mammalian brainstem.
Medical subject headings
- Auditory Perception
- Models, Neurological
- Models, Statistical
- Sound Localization