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Biomedical subjects

A Algazi

Publications and source records attributed to A Algazi.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Lesions of frontal cortex diminish the auditory mismatch negativity.

Event-related brain potentials to non-attended auditory stimuli were recorded from patients with dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DPFCx) lesions and from age-matched control subjects as they performed a visual reaction time task. Auditory stimuli consisted of monaural sequences of repetitive standard tones (1000 Hz) and occasional deviant tones of a higher frequency (1300 Hz). In comparison with control subjects, DPFCx patients showed enhanced P1 amplitudes (mean peak latency 50 msec), consistent with reduced frontally mediated gating of sensory input to the auditory cortex. The mismatch negativity (MMN) elicited by deviant tones was reduced in DPFCx patients over a broad latency range (130-210 msec), especially over the lesioned hemisphere and for tones delivered to the ear ipsilateral to the lesion. The results suggest that DPFCx and DPFCx-temporal projections play a critical role in involuntary orienting to physical changes in sequences of non-attended auditory stimuli.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Stages of auditory feature conjunction: an event-related brain potential study.

Auditory event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded to tones of different frequencies and locations in a dichotic selective attention task in which Ss responded to occasional deviant tones of a prespecified location and frequency. Attention effects were isolated as negative difference (Nd) waves by subtracting ERPs to tones with no attended features from ERPs to the same tones when they shared target frequency, location, or both cues. The N1/P90 (latency 80-100 ms), originating in a tonotopically organized generator, was enhanced for all tones in the attended ear. Nd waves, beginning at 80 ms and lasting up to 700 ms, were seen to tones with either attended feature. Nd waves to frequency and location features had different scalp distributions consistent with generation in different cortical fields. Conjunction-specific Nds began 30-50 ms after Nds to individual features. The relative timing suggests that feature conjunction began before the analysis of individual features was complete.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Processing of auditory stimuli during auditory and visual attention as revealed by event-related potentials.

Auditory event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded during auditory and visual selective attention tasks. Auditory stimuli consisted of frequent standard tones (1000 Hz) and infrequent deviant tones (1050 Hz and 1300 Hz) delivered randomly to the left and right ears. Visual stimuli were vertical line gratings randomly presented on a video monitor at mean intervals of 6 s. During auditory attention, the subject attended to the stimuli in a designated ear and responded to the 1300-Hz deviants occurring among the attended tones. During visual attention, the subject responded to the occasional visual stimuli. ERPs for tones delivered to the attended ear were negatively displaced relative to ERPs elicited by tones delivered to the unattended ear and to ERPs elicited by auditory stimuli during visual attention. This attention effect consisted of negative difference waves with early and late components. Mismatch negativities (MMNs) were elicited by 1300-Hz and 1050-Hz deviants irrespective of whether they occurred among attended or unattended tones. MMN amplitudes were unaffected by attention, supporting the proposal that the MMN is generated by an automatic cerebral discrimination process.

Adult↗

Intermodal selective attention: evidence for processing in tonotopic auditory fields.

Auditory event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded for 250- and 4,000-Hz tone bursts in an intermodal selective attention task. Tonotopic changes were evident in the scalp distribution of the rising phase of the auditory N1 (mean peak latency 116 ms); the N1 was more frontally distributed following the 4,000-Hz than following the 250-Hz tone bursts, and it included a contralateral P90 component that was absent following 250-Hz tones. ERPs related to intermodal selective attention were isolated as negative and positive auditory difference waves (Ndas and Pdas). Neither the Nda nor the Pda showed changes in distribution with tone frequency, but both showed Ear x Frequency changes in distribution. ERPs for deviant tones included mismatch negativities (MMNs) and, in attend auditory conditions, N2b and P3 components. These components did not change in scalp distribution with tone frequency. One possible explanation is that tonotopic displacements of ERP distributions on the scalp surface depend on angular displacements in generator fields on gyral convexities. The results are consistent with the possibility that auditory processing radiates outward with increasing latency from tonotopic fields on Heschl's gyri to more gyrus-free regions of the planun temporale and anterior superior temporal plane.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Intermodal selective attention. I. Effects on event-related potentials to lateralized auditory and visual stimuli.

The effects of intermodal selective attention on event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were examined in 2 experiments. In experiment 1, auditory ERPs were compared (1) when subjects responded to easy and difficult-to-detect target tones in sequences of tone bursts; and (2) when they ignored the same auditory sequences and played a demanding video game. In experiment 2, auditory ERPs to tone bursts and visual ERPs to vertical line gratings were compared as subjects responded to difficult-to-detect targets in one modality or the other. Attention to auditory stimuli resulted in biphasic enhancements in auditory ERPs, the Nda (negative auditory difference wave, latency 120-160 msec) and the Pda (positive auditory difference wave, latency 200-240 msec) waves. These had longer latencies and somewhat different scalp distributions than N1 and P2 components evoked by non-attended tones. The Nda and Pda could be contrasted with the monophasic processing negativities typically found in dichotic selective attention tasks. Nda amplitudes were larger for difficult-to-detect targets (closely resembling standards) than for standards themselves, but no Ndas were recorded to highly deviant targets. Deviant auditory stimuli evoked mismatch negativities (MMNs) that persisted during visual attention. MMN amplitudes to difficult-to-detect deviants were enlarged with attention, but no change was found in MMN amplitudes to easy-to-detect deviants. In experiment 2 intermodal attention was associated with biphasic changes in visual ERPs over the posterior scalp: the occipital Pdv (100-130 msec), and contralateral-temporal Ndv (120-320 msec) deflections. Deviant visual stimuli also elicited mismatch negativity/N2b components, largest over the inferotemporal cortex contralateral to the stimulated visual field. Like the auditory MMN, the MMN increased in amplitude with attention, but it was also evident during attend auditory conditions. The results suggest that sustained, intermodal attention depends primarily in processing modulations in modality-specific cortex. We found no evidence of the participation of modality non-specific cortex. This excludes the possibility that intermodal attention depends on a single, supramodal attention system. The relatively long latency of intermodal effects suggests that they may depend on the reafferent (top down) modulation, and do not index "template matching" operations.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Intermodal selective attention. II. Effects of attentional load on processing of auditory and visual stimuli in central space.

The effect of processing load on event-related brain potentials (ERPs) was investigated in an intermodal selective attention task in which subjects attended selectively to auditory or visual stimuli. Processing load was manipulated by requiring subjects to detect either difficult-to-detect (deviant) or easy-to-detect (DEVIANT) targets in separate blocks of trials. Attention to auditory stimuli was associated with negative (Nda, 90-170 msec) and positive (Pda, 190-270 msec) enhancements in the ERPs to auditory stimuli. The Nda increased in amplitude with increasing processing load. Deviant auditory stimuli occurring among auditory standard stimuli elicited frontally distributed mismatch negativities (MMNs). The MMN persisted during visual attention and was unaffected by visual processing load. However, the MMN to deviants but not DEVIANTS was enhanced in amplitude with auditory attention. Attention to visual stimuli resulted in positive (Pdv, latency 70-130 msec) and negative (Ndv, 170-270 msec) modulations of visual ERPs, that increased with increasing processing load. Prominent visual deviance-related negativities were observed at occipital and infero-temporal scalp sites (latencies 90-290 msec), but only to DEVIANT visual stimuli. The early MMN-like portion of the visual deviance-related negativity was independent of attention, with equal amplitudes during different auditory and visual conditions.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Brain potential signs of feature processing during auditory selective attention.

We recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to random dichotic tone sequences as subjects attended to tone bursts of a designated pitch (250, 1000 or 4000 Hz) and ear of delivery. The effects of attention were isolated as negative difference (Nd) waves by subtracting ERPs to ignored tones from ERPs to the same tones when either one or both features were attended. Early sensory components of the ERP changed tonotopically in scalp distribution, while the distributions of Nd waves were feature-specific (pitch processing differed from location processing) but not tonotopic. At longer latencies, Nd waves specific to feature-conjunction operations were isolated. These began 40-50 ms after Nds to isolated cues and continued for hundreds of ms.

Acoustic Stimulation↗