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Examining the lateralization of electrophysiological correlates of auditory awareness
Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Perception and psychophysics.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3222-8056
Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Perception and psychophysics.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-9932-8924
Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Perception and psychophysics.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-4531-4313
Number of Authors: 32024 (English)In: Psychophysiology, ISSN 0048-5772, E-ISSN 1469-8986, Vol. 61, no 11, article id e14656Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The neurological basis for perceptual awareness remains unclear, and theories disagree as to whether sensory cortices per se generate awareness. Critically, neural activity in the sensory cortices is only a neural correlate of consciousness (NCC) if it closely matches the contents of perceptual awareness. Research in vision and touch suggest that contralateral activity in sensory cortices is an NCC. Similarly, research in hearing with two sound sources (left and right) presented over headphones also suggests that a candidate NCC called the auditory awareness negativity (AAN) matches perceived location of sound. The current study used 13 different sound sources presented over loudspeakers for natural localization cues and measured event-related potentials to a threshold stimulus in a sound localization task. Preregistered Bayesian mixed models provided moderate evidence against an overall AAN and very strong evidence against its lateralization. Because of issues regarding data quantity and quality, exploratory analyses with aggregated data from multiple loudspeakers were conducted. Results provided moderate evidence for an overall AAN and strong evidence against its lateralization. Nonetheless, the interpretations of these results remain inconclusive. Therefore, future research should reduce the number of conditions and/or test over several sessions to procure a sufficient amount of data. Taken at face value, the results may suggest issues with AAN as an NCC of auditory awareness, as it does not laterally map onto experiences in a free-field auditory environment, in contrast to the NCCs of vision and touch.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2024. Vol. 61, no 11, article id e14656
Keywords [en]
electrophysiological correlates, auditory awareness, perceptual awareness, neural correlate of consciousness, sound localization, auditory, hearing
National Category
Psychology
Research subject
Psychology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-235996DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14656ISI: 001282550700001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85200253012OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-235996DiVA, id: diva2:1916124
Note

Open access funding was provided by Stockholm University. This work was supported by a grant to Stefan Wiens from Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation (MMW 2019.0102).

Available from: 2024-11-26 Created: 2024-11-26 Last updated: 2025-03-31Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Neural Correlates of Consciousness in Sound Localization
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Neural Correlates of Consciousness in Sound Localization
2025 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Within neuroscience, biological markers of consciousness are known as the neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs). Electrophysiological data have suggested two candidate NCCs in hearing: the auditory awareness negativity (AAN), and late positivity (LP). The AAN is linked to phenomenal awareness of sound, and the LP to post-perceptual behavioral response and executive control. Earlier research on the analogs of the AAN in both vision and touch found topographical mapping onto the cerebral hemisphere that is contralateral to stimulus source. Similar research has not been conducted on the AAN. Sound localization is the ability to perceive spatial locations of sound sources. Localization of sound in the horizontal dimension utilizes binaural cues of time and intensity differences. Sound is typically perceived from outside the head and is localized to a physical space (sound localization). When sound is perceived within the head, by using headphones, sound is instead lateralized to the left or right along an intracranial axis (sound lateralization). The thesis comprised three studies of threshold-level identification tasks, where listeners were tasked to localize laterally displaced sounds. The first study tested the NCCs to sound lateralization using a binaural click stimulus that was lateralized randomly toward either ear, presented through headphones. Then, the second study tested the NCCs to sound localization using a square pulse stimulus played from random positions in a semicircular array of thirteen horizontally displaced equidistant loudspeakers. In the third study, the NCCs to different binaural cues in sound lateralization were tested, specifically manipulating differences in time and intensity with the same stimulus and equipment used in the first study. The overall results showed that the AAN contralaterally changes in relation to experienced sound source only in sound lateralization, and only in the tested condition where binaural cues of time and intensity differences were combined. The LP showed a hemispheric contralateral effect in relation to experienced sound source, but only to sound localization. This contralateral effect may be an attentional artifact of audiovisual integration, as the loudspeakers were seen by the listeners. The thesis suggests that the NCCs to sound localization and sound lateralization differ in expression based on hearing medium.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, 2025. p. 55
Keywords
neural correlates of consciousness, NCC, auditory awareness negativity, AAN, hearing, sound localization, electroencephalography, EEG, event-related potential, ERP
National Category
Psychology (Excluding Applied Psychology)
Research subject
Psychology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:su:diva-241493 (URN)978-91-8107-192-4 (ISBN)978-91-8107-193-1 (ISBN)
Public defence
2025-05-23, Lärosal 31, hus 4, våning 2, Albanovägen 12, Stockholm, 13:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2025-04-25 Created: 2025-03-31 Last updated: 2026-01-19Bibliographically approved

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Gerdfeldter, BillyAndersson, AnnikaWiens, Stefan

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