RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The spatiotemporal dynamics of recognition memory for complex versus simple auditory sequences
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.05.15.492038
DO 10.1101/2022.05.15.492038
A1 G. Fernández Rubio
A1 E. Brattico
A1 S. A. Kotz
A1 M. L. Kringelbach
A1 P. Vuust
A1 L. Bonetti
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/05/16/2022.05.15.492038.abstract
AB Differently from visual recognition, auditory recognition is a process relying on the organization of single elements that evolve in time. Here, we aimed to discover the spatiotemporal dynamics of this cognitive function by adopting a novel strategy for varying the complexity of musical sequences. We selected traditional tonal musical sequences and altered the distance between pitches to obtain matched atonal sequences. We then recorded the brain activity of 71 participants using magnetoencephalography (MEG) while they listened to and later recognized auditory sequences constructed according to simple (tonal) or complex (atonal) conventions. Results reveal qualitative changes in neural activity dependent on stimulus complexity: recognition of tonal sequences engaged hippocampal and cingulate areas, whereas recognition of atonal sequences mainly activated the auditory processing network. Our findings highlight the involvement of a cortico-subcortical brain network for auditory recognition and support the idea that stimulus complexity qualitatively alters the neural pathways of recognition memory.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.