Inserm Unité 280, "Mental Processes and Brain Activation", Lyon, France and , 1 Institute for Experimental Audiology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
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Abstract |
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Introduction |
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It is well established that the main human cortical auditory areas are located in the superior portion of the temporal lobe, including parts of the supratemporal plane and the supratemporal gyrus (STG). The organization of the human auditory cortex shows similarities with the auditory cortex of the macaque monkey, which has been parcelled into >12 areas organized in three regions: the core line region, containing the primary auditory cortex (PAC) and two more anterior areas, the rostral area (R) and the rostro-lateral area (RL), is surrounded by the belt region (itself subdivided into as many as eight distinct areas), which in turn is boarded laterally by two areas forming the parabelt region in the STG (Pandya, 1995; Rauschecker, 1998a
; Kaas et al., 1999
). Cytoarchitectonic studies in humans (Galaburda and Sanides, 1980
; Rademacher et al., 1993
; Pandya, 1995
) have described a highly granular konio-cortex located in the first transverse gyrus of Heschl (H1), occupying about two-thirds of this structure. This area presumably forms the PAC, as also suggested by intracerebral recordings (Liégeois-Chauvel et al., 1991
). The first transverse gyrus is delimited anteriorily by the first temporal sulcus (TS1), and posteriorily by Heschl's sulcus (HS1). Although additional transverse gyri (H2, H3) might be present posteriorily to H1 (Rademacher et al., 1993
; Penhune et al., 1996
; Leonard et al., 1998
), it has been suggested that the primary area remains within H1, occasionally extending to the posterior bank of HS1 (Rademacher et al., 1993
). The core line is bounded medially by a more primitive area of prokonio-cortex located in the insular circular sulcus, called the root area. On its other edges, the PAC is surrounded by several secondary belts of parakonio-cortex (associative areas), anteriorily toward the pole, laterally by the STG, and posteriorily by H2H3 (if present) and by the planum temporale (PT). Areas H1 and PT have been reported to be highly variable across individuals (Penhune et al., 1996
; Leonard et al., 1998
; Westbury et al., 1999
). Moreover, inter-hemispheric asymmetries have been reported, with both larger PTs, especially in right-handers (Steinmetz et al., 1989
; Steinmetz, 1996
; Shapleske et al., 1999
), and larger H1 volumes of white but not of grey matter (Penhune et al., 1996
) in the left hemisphere.
Functional Mapping of the Auditory Cortical Areas
Because of their good spatial resolution, positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques have been contributing greatly to the functional mapping of the cortical structures involved in either simple perceptual tasks or in tasks addressing cognitive processes. In these studies, a prominent activity of the region surrounding Heschl's gyrus was reported (Lauter et al., 1985; Binder et al., 1994
; Wessinger et al., 1997a
; Scheich et al., 1998
; Stippich et al., 1998
; Belin et al., 1999
, 2000
; Lockwood et al., 1999
), with some evidence for a tonotopic organization, where high frequencies are represented more postero-medially than low frequencies. Binder et al. (Binder et al., 1994
) found that noise bursts and speech stimuli also activate the STG and banks of the supratemporal sulcus (STS), and noted considerable inter-subject variability in the location of the recorded cortical activity. Using pure tones as stimuli in a detection task, Scheich et al. (Scheich et al., 1998
) distinguished activity in H1 from activities in more posterior cortical regions probably arising from H2 or H3 and PT.
Chronology of Activation of the Auditory Cortical Areas
An important issue of the investigation of the human auditory cortex is to detect precisely when and in which temporal order the cortical auditory areas are activated after stimulus onset. This important information about sound processing in the central auditory pathway in humans can only be obtained by using high temporal resolution techniques. Electrophysiological studies (Picton et al., 1974; Wood and Wolpaw, 1982
) have described that after stimulus onset the early brainstem-evoked responses (occurring before 10 ms) are followed by different evoked components originating from the auditory cortex. The responses elicited between 10 and 70 ms after stimulus onset are termed middle latency components (MLCs), whereas later components, in the range of 80250 ms, are called long latency components (LLCs). MLCs elicited by clicks are usually described as a succession of four waves labeled as Na (latency: ~19 ms), Pa (~30 ms), Nb (~40 ms), and Pb (5070 ms). In the literature, Pb is also known as P1 and sometimes P50, especially when stimuli are tone-bursts. In the following, we will use the term Pb when referring to this component. MLCs are followed by the most prominent component of the LLCs, the N1 or N100, having a latency of ~100 ms.
While early electroencephalography (EEG) (Scherg et al., 1989a) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) studies (Elberling et al., 1982
; Hari, 1983
; Pantev et al., 1988
, 1990
; Hari, 1990
; Reite et al., 1994
) explained the generation of N1 with an activation of primary and secondary auditory cortical areas, more recent MEG studies (Pantev et al., 1995
; Lütkenhöner and Steinsträter, 1998
) or stereotactic EEG (SEEG) intracerebral recordings (Liégeois-Chauvel et al., 1994
, 1995
) argue for supratemporal sources of N1 most likely located in the PT. Other intracerebral recordings (Celesia, 1976
; Howard et al., 2000
) suggest that both primary and secondary areas are active in the N1 time range. Additional frontal and parietal generators of the N1 component were also suggested on the basis of EEG and MEG measurements, carried out by Giard et al. and Lävikäinen et al. (Giard et al., 1994
; Lävikäinen et al., 1994
), respectively.
Less is known about the sources of the MLCs, which, due to their smaller amplitude, are much more difficult to record. The first MEG study carried out by Pelizzone et al. (Pelizzone et al.,1987), for which anatomical reference (MRIs) was not available, showed that Pa had a cortical origin, and that the corresponding sources were located slightly more anterior than N100 sources in the supratemporal plane region. The anatomical locations of Na sources have been studied in MEG using clicks (Scherg et al., 1989b
; Hashimoto et al., 1995
; Kuriki et al., 1995
; Yoshiura et al., 1995
), and although they could not be systematically identified in all subjects, it was suggested that they were localized in the postero-medial part of H1. Using either clicks (Scherg et al., 1989b
; Mäkelä et al., 1994
; Hashimoto et al., 1995
; Kuriki et al., 1995
; Yoshiura et al., 1995
; Gutschalk et al., 1999
) or tone-bursts (Pantev et al., 1995
), Pa sources have been reported that are located in the same regions as Na sources. These results have been corroborated for Na and Pa by intracerebral SEEG recordings in epileptic patients, with electrode leads within the medial part of H1 (Liégeois-Chauvel et al., 1991
). It is thus now commonly suggested that the NaPa complex reflects the earliest PAC activity.
By contrast, the anatomical origin of the Pb component still remains controversial. Using MEG, Scherg et al. (Scherg et al., 1989b) studied one subject with clicks and found Pb sources to be more lateral and anterior than Na/Pa sources. This result was confirmed by Yoshiura et al. in several subjects (Yoshiura et al., 1995
), and by intracerebral recordings in epileptic patients (Liégeois-Chauvel, 1994, 1995). However, other studies do not agree with such an organization of the Pb sources. Using 1 kHz tone-bursts with a quite long rise time of 15 ms, Reite et al. (Reite et al., 1988
) consistently found Pb sources in the PT. EEG mapping and source analysis (Scherg and von Cramon, 1986
; Cacace et al., 1990
) have further suggested the existence of a radial temporal component at ~4045 ms, overlapping temporally with other tangential sources, originating probably from the STG, although no clear anatomical correlates have been provided. These studies are in agreement with intracerebral and electrocorticogram recordings (Celesia, 1976
; Howard et al., 2000
) that also show a component at ~40 ms originating from the STG surface. Reduction of this radial component has been reported by Knight et al. (Knight et al., 1988
) in patients with STG lesions. However, this early STG activity has not been described in a series of SEEG studies (Liégeois-Chauvel, 1991, 1994, 1995), in which the authors rather support the existence of multiple MLC subcomponents in the 3070 ms range, with sources gradually located more antero-laterally along H1.
In general, scalp studies do not provide sufficient anatomical information about the location of MLC sources. Thus, the goal of this investigation was to obtain further anatomical and electrophysiological data on the supratemporal cortical structures first activated by stimulation with pure tone-bursts. In a testretest paradigm with simultaneously recorded EEG and MEG, non-invasive identification of MLC sources has been performed by use of realistic head models based on individual MRIs.
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Materials and Methods |
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Six right-handed subjects [according to the Edinburgh handedness questionnaire (Oldfield, 1971)], one male and five females, aged 2430 years and with neither otological nor neurological disorders, participated in this experiment. Normal audiological status (individual air conduction hearing thresholds between 250 Hz and 4 kHz of <10 dB above normal threshold) was verified by pure-tone audiometry. Informed consent was obtained from each subject after explaining to him/her the nature of the study. The experimental procedures were conducted in accordance with the Ethics Commission of the University of Münster and the Declaration of Helsinki. Subjects were paid for their participation. In order to check the reproducibility of the results, the whole paradigm was repeated three times for three of the test subjects, and duplicated for the other three subjects. These repetitions, or sessions, were carried out on different days.
Stimulation
Stimuli were 1000 Hz short tone-bursts, having a 3 ms rise time, a 20 ms plateau and a 20 ms decay time. Rise and fall ramps were shaped using a Hanning window. The long decay time was chosen to avoid possible off-responses overlapping on-MLCs studied here. Individual thresholds were determined for each subject, and the stimuli were delivered at 60 dB sensation level to the right ear with a randomized inter-stimulus interval (onset-to-onset) ranging from 150 to 350 ms (uniform distribution). Magnetically silent delivery of the stimuli was provided by a special delivery system consisting of speakers (1'' compression driver, Renkus-Heinz Inc., Foothill Ranch, CA) mounted outside the magnetically shielded room which were connected to a silicon earpiece through 6.3 m of echoless plastic tubing (16 mm inner diameter). The frequency characteristic of this system deviated less than ±10 dB between 200 and 6000 Hz. The transmission delay of ~19 ms was compensated for by an appropriate shift of the trigger signal. Before carrying out the experiments, both the signal spectrum of the stimulus and its correct timing were checked by means of a 2 cm3 artificial ear (Brüel & Kjær model 4157, Naerum, Denmark) equipped with an 0.5'' condenser microphone (Brüel & Kjær model 4134) and connected to the silicon earpiece at the end of the sound delivery system. For each recorded hemisphere, the total number of stimuli in one session was 8800.
Data Acquisition
Recordings were carried out in a magnetically and acoustically shielded room. Subjects rested in a lateral position on a vacuum cast, with their head lying on a mould to ensure stable fixation throughout the whole experimental session. MEG (37-channel gradiometer; 4D Neuro-imaging, San Diego, CA) and EEG data (32 channels; Neuroscan, Sterling, VA) were recorded simultaneously (bandwidth: 0.16400 Hz; sampling rate: 1043 Hz). Data were acquired continuously and stored for offline analysis. The detection coils of the neuro-magnetometer were arranged in a circular concave array with a diameter of 144 mm and a spherical radius of 122 mm. The distance between the centers of the coils was 22 mm, and the coil diameter was 20 mm. The sensors were configured as a first-order axial gradiometer with a baseline of 50 mm. The spectral density of the intrinsic noise of each channel was between 5 and 7 fT/Hz in the frequency range above 1 Hz. The sensor array was placed over the temporal region, centered over a point ~1.5 cm superior to the position T3/T4 of the international 1020 system for electrode placement, as close to the subject's head as possible. A sensor-position indicator system determined the spatial locations of the sensors relative to the head and indicated whether head movements occurred during the recordings. Because the MEG device covered only one hemisphere at a time, each session consisted of two measurements, one for each hemisphere. The order of recorded hemisphere was balanced between sessions. For EEG, a 32 Ag/AgCl electrode cap was used (Virtanen et al., 1996
). The montage was composed of the 19 international 1020 electrodes, 12 electrodes added at temporal, frontal and mastoid sites, and also one EOG derivation.
During the measurement sessions, subjects watched a self-selected cartoon, whilst lying comfortably on the side opposite to the MEG-recorded hemisphere. Data sets in which the relative position between the head and the MEG instrument changed by >1 cm were discarded from further analysis (this occurred three times over 30 measurements). For the 27 accepted measurements, the head movement was 4.3 mm on average.
Data Processing and Filtering
Trials with EOG artifacts were rejected, using a threshold for MEG and EEG/EOG signals of 3000 fT and 150 µV, respectively. These thresholds were chosen after careful inspection of the continuous data for each subject. On average, this procedure led to 7600 acceptable MEG trials for each subject's hemisphere, and twice as many EEG trials, corresponding to the combination of the individual MEG measurements of the left and the right hemisphere. Artifact-free trials were averaged over a 1300 ms period, including a 600 ms baseline. These averaged epochs were baseline-corrected, using the [50 ms, 0 ms] time window, digitally band-pass filtered (with a zero-phase-shift filter operating in the frequency domain) between 3 Hz (12dB/octave) and 150 Hz (24 dB/octave), and finally again baseline-corrected using the same 50 ms window.
At this point we would like to stress the importance of the high-pass filter settings. Indeed, for MLC components two types of high-pass cutoff frequencies have been reported in the literature. Some authors who were looking for MLC topographies and sources used values of <5 Hz (Wood and Wolpow, 1982; Deiber et al., 1988
; Pelizzone et al., 1987
; Reite et al., 1988
; Scherg et al., 1989b
; Cacace et al., 1990
; Woldorff et al., 1993
; Mäkelä et al., 1994
; Hashimoto et al., 1995
; Pantev et al., 1995
), while others preferred values of between 10 and 20 Hz (Scherg and Von Cramon, 1986
; Kuriki et al., 1995
; Yoshiura et al., 1995
). Although the latter choice improves the signal-to-noise ratio, it may be critical when the resulting filtered data are used for source analysis. It has been reported that using higher high-pass filter settings deteriorates MLCs (Deiber et al., 1988
; McGee et al., 1988
). Thus, we found it important for careful source analysis to carry out simulations in order to demonstrate how high high-pass filtering mixes up the topographical contents of time-adjacent components and yields erroneous localization results (cf. Fig. 1
).
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Intra-subject MRIMEG/EEG Registration
For each subject, a full head shape, including eye globe contours, was obtained before each EEG/MEG session (cf. Fig. 2A). The positions of these points, as well as the positions of the EEG electrodes and the MEG coils, were digitized in a coordinate system based on three anatomical landmarks: nasion, and the left and right ear canals. For each subject, sagittal T1-weighted MR images (TE = 4 ms, TR = 9.7 ms, slice thickness = 1.41 mm, pixel size within each slice = 0.98 mm) were acquired using a 1.5 T Siemens Magnetom Vision device. Reconstructed horizontal slices were parallel to the line passing through the anterior and posterior commissures. Prior to acquisition, MRI-visible markers were positioned over the three landmarks. For each session, a simple matching of these three points provided a first, coarse registration of MRI and EEG/MEG sensors. Using a procedure proposed by Schwartz et al. (Schwartz et al., 1996
), this registration was improved by matching the full head shape onto the scalp surface segmented from MRIs (cf. Fig. 2B
).
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For each latency, MEG and EEG data were mapped using the spherical spline algorithm (Perrin et al., 1987), with Tikhonov regularization preventing fictious map rebounds due to noise (Babiloni et al., 1998
).
Individual realistic boundary element models (BEMs) were constructed for each subject from a contour stack semi-automatically segmented from MRIs (Yvert et al., 1995). Each BEM consisted of three uniformly meshed surface shells (representing the inner and outer skull and the scalp) with 3.2 triangles/cm2 (with an average element edge length of 8.8 mm). For all subjects, a complete model was made of ~8000 triangles and 4000 points (cf. Fig. 2C
). A first-order boundary element method (de Munck, 1992
; Ferguson et al., 1994
), with an isolated problem approach (Hämäläinen and Sarvas, 1989
), was used, and conductivities were set to 0.45, 0.45/80 and 0.45 S/m (Rush and Driscoll, 1968
) for the scalp, skull and brain, respectively. Such models have been evaluated recently using simulations (Crouzeix et al., 1999
), and it was found that the positions of even radially oriented sources can theoretically be retrieved using realistic BEM models.
A moving dipole model was applied to the MEG data for each hemisphere separately, at each time sample between 0 and 150 ms. At each time slice, an iterative algorithm starting with an initial guess combined a non-linear part (Marquardt algorithm), searching for position and orientation parameters, and a linear part, estimating the amplitude of the source by a least-square criterion. In order to cope with the problem of local minima, spherical preprocessing was used; the initial guess chosen for realistic modeling was the best result found by a spherical model among 50 inverse solutions corresponding to different random initial conditions.
EEG peaks and troughs on fronto-central electrodes (F3/C3 on the left hemisphere, and F4/C4 on the right hemisphere) were used to individually select initial latencies of the different MLC components. These latencies were then adjusted by a few milliseconds, in order to correspond to the most stable EEG topography in time. Finally, the dipole with the best goodness-of-fit value (gof) within a 2 ms time window around the selected latency was considered as the source of the component. Indeed, in cases of multiple simultaneous sources, the best gof occurred at time points when the sources overlap less (cf. Fig. 1). Only sources corresponding to high gof values (>97%) were considered for further analysis. For each subject and component, the source positions obtained in the different sessions were averaged.
Inter-subject Auditory Cortices Registration and Source Analysis
For inter-subject statistical analysis of the source coordinates in each hemisphere, all subjects' source positions were registered in a common frame. This was done to account for gross anatomical differences in location of the auditory cortex across all subjects. All subjects' auditory cortices were aligned by matching the center of three landmarks (A, B, C) identified from MRIs in the auditory cortex (cf. Fig. 3):
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For each subject, the center of the head-coordinate system (defined by the x-axis pointing from the left to the right ear canal, the y-axis passing through the nasion, the z-axis being the cross-product of x x y, and the center being the orthogonal projection of the nasion onto the x-axis) was translated to the center of gravity of these three anatomical landmarks. The sources and these anatomical landmarks (points A, B and C and sulci) were thus individually registered in this shifted head coordinate system.
One-way multivariate statistical analysis (MANOVA, Wilk's lambda test) was first performed to account for a global effect of the components on the aligned source positions, and then post-hoc T2 tests were used to account for 2 x 2 significant differences between clusters of sources corresponding to the different components.
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Results |
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In the present study, EEG was used to identify the MLC components. This choice was supported experimentally by the fact that EEG data showed more topographical variations over time than did MEG data, thus providing best identifiability of different components. This is illustrated in Figure 4, where the EEG and MEG components from the left hemisphere are shown for two sessions in one subject.
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Latencies and Amplitudes of the Components
For each hemisphere, the latency and signal RMS amplitude were measured for each component. For EEG, the RMS amplitude was computed using only the electrodes located on one hemisphere, excluding those on the midline. Values were then averaged across sessions for each subject, and finally averaged across subjects. These final mean values (± SD) are given in Table 1.
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As shown in Figure 5 and Table 1
, a contralateral predominance was indicated by stronger EEG and MEG RMS signals from the left than from the right hemisphere. These inter-hemispheric differences were found to be statistically significant in MEG for the Nb (P = 0.0006), Pb1 (P = 0.0012) and Pb2 (P = 0.027) components, but not for EEG components (P > 0.13).
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The activity from Pa to Pb2 components lasted from ~2530 ms to 80100 ms after stimulus onset, continuously showing a dipolar pattern compatible with underlying sources always pointing anteriorly and superiorly. However, during this time period, topographies were changing, especially in EEG, as illustrated for one subject in Figure 4, and on the EEG maps grand-averaged across subjects in Figure 5
. In particular, Nb showed a much more focal topography on the left hemisphere than did the three other components, thus suggesting a more peripheral source. In the left hemisphere, the Nb component corresponded to a local peak of RMS activity in MEG (Fig. 5
). In the ipsilateral right hemisphere, the Nb component corresponded to a trough in the MEG RMS signal, and its EEG topography was not found to be much more focal than for the other components. Finally, positive and negative Pb2 peaks were found to be slightly more anterior than those of Pb1 in both hemispheres (cf. Fig. 5
).
Source Analysis
For each component, we selected the dipole source yielding the best gof value no more than 2 ms around the latency determined from most stable EEG topographies around peaks/troughs on fronto-central electrodes (see Materials and Methods). Moreover, sources with gof values <97% were discarded from further analysis. This was mainly the case for the Nb component in the right hemisphere, for which no acceptable sources were obtained in three subjects. The accepted sources were averaged across sessions for each subject, then registered with respect to the three individual landmarks (see Materials and Methods), and finally averaged across subjects. Table 2 gives across-subject mean gof values, mean dipole coordinates and inter-session dispersions for each component, and mean A, B and C landmark positions. Figure 6
shows the final mean locations and orientations across all subjects for each component with respect to individual HS1 and STS sulci. Note that we found inter-session dispersions of the dipole coordinates (1.68.9 mm) to be of the order of the head movements (4.3 mm) (see the single case in Fig. 7A
). Figure 7B
illustrates the mean source positions obtained for one subject, relative to the temporal plane structures (Heschl's gyri, sulci, STG and PT), as reconstructed from MRIs after manual segmentation.
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Discussion |
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The following general pattern of successive activities was found:
We tested whether the number of Heschl gyri would influence this pattern. For this purpose, we split the subjects into two groups: two subjects had two Heschl's gyri with posterior duplication (Leonard et al., 1998) and four subjects had only one Heschl's gyrus (with a left duplication anterior to the located sources in two subjects). Source locations were then averaged within each group, which yielded identical spatiotemporal activation patterns in both cases.
In our results, Pb1 sources could not be dissociated from Nb sources. Separability from Pb2 was not very clear, and only a statistical trend was found. For this reason, we suggest that the NbPb1 complex with a latency of 4060 ms might in fact reflect the same underlying active region in the STG.
The Nb component is usually described in EEG studies as a trough on a wave recorded at or near the vertex. However, this terminology lets one assume that it corresponds to a source oriented inferiorly. In this study we found that Nb should in fact be characterized by a topography compatible with a source oriented antero-superiorly (cf. Figs 4 and 5 for topographies and Fig. 6
for average source orientations), being more focal than those of Pa, Pb1 and Pb2. We thus believe that this trough near the vertex should rather be considered as the consequence of a lateral shift of activity, leaving less signal on fronto-central electrodes, and that negative frontal Nb EEG topographies are actually artificial consequences of high high-pass filter settings (Fig. 1
).
Our localization results in the right hemisphere show a pattern similar to that in the left hemisphere, especially for Pa and Pb2 components. However, Nb and Pb1 sources were not localized as lateral, as they were in the left hemisphere. In the right hemisphere, the Nb sources were identified in only 3/6 subjects, and found to be lateral in two of them. We attribute this finding to our monaural stimulation paradigm: as reported, right ear stimulation resulted in a stronger activation of the contralateral (left) hemisphere (Fig. 5), which, as a consequence, may have improved the separability of the components on that side. From our data, a hemispheric asymmetry irrespective of the stimulated ear cannot be ruled out. However, recent findings using subcortical grids covering the STG in epileptic patients have reported early STG activity around 40 ms in both left and right hemispheres (Howard et al., 2000
). Thus we rather attribute this asymetry to our asymmetrical stimulation paradigm.
We did not detect the Na component in MEG recordings, although we could see its EEG counterpart in three subjects. There may be two reasons for this. First, we used 1 kHz pure-tone stimuli, while other MEG studies addressing source localization of Na used broadband click stimuli (Scherg et al., 1989b; Hashimoto et al., 1995
; Kuriki et al., 1995
; Yoshiura et al., 1995
), eliciting more prominent MLCs than tone or noise bursts. For instance, Pellizone et al. (Pellizone et al., 1987), using noise bursts, did not report an Na component in their data. Furthermore, it is known that the Na component is difficult to record in MEG, even with click stimulation (Yoshiura et al., 1995
), probably because the underlying sources are weak and located deeply. This interpretation is supported by the results of SEEG investigations in which Na has been reported to stem from deep H1 sources (Celesia, 1976
; Liégeois-Chauvel et al., 1991
).
In our study, we found Pa sources in the very postero-superior-medial part of the supratemporal plane. This result is consistent with most findings of the literature reporting Pa sources in the postero-medial portion of Heschl's gyri (Scherget al., 1989b; Liégeois-Chauvel et al., 1991
; Mäkelä et al., 1994
; Hashimoto et al., 1995
; Kuriki et al., 1995
; Pantev et al., 1995
; Yoshiura et al., 1995
). It should, however, be noted that all these results did not precisely distinguish between H1, HS1 or H2 regions. In our study, we found Pa sources lying on or posterior to HS1 in all subjects, in a region more likely corresponding to the postero-lateral belt rather than the PAC. Although this result could be attributed to an unknown bias of the inverse procedure, it was found systematically in all subjects. This result can be paralleled with a recent fMRI study reporting activation of the belt region on or posterior to HS1 in the case of speech stimuli (Hashimoto et al., 2000
). This finding is also consistent with awake monkey single unit recordings reporting initial spike latencies in the lateral belt adjacent to the PAC at ~25 ms (Pfingst and O'Connor, 1981
). In particular, latencies in this area were not reported to be different from those of the PAC (27 ms), suggesting that these two neighboring areas are active simultaneously. The Pa activity recorded here on the human scalp could thus be the overall contribution of these two adjacent areas.
The Pb2 sources were localized antero-infero-laterally to the Pa sources (Fig. 6). This result is in accordance with previous intracerebral findings (Liégeois-Chauvel et al., 1994
, 1995
), and suggests that this component might reflect the activity of the human counterpart of the anterior areas (R, RL) in the core line and/or of the antero-lateral belt, both described in monkeys (Kaas et al., 1999
).
We are aware that using a single moving dipole model might not be optimal in the present case of multiple active regions. However, this simple model allowed for the distinction between three different active areas. To test whether multi-dipole models would have been more efficient, we aimed at identifying the left hemisphere sources of the four components using a model with either three or four simultaneously active stationary dipoles [fixed positions and orientations (Scherg, 1990)] for the first session of the subject of Figure 7
. Initial parameter conditions were set to be the results of the moving dipole model at the selected Pa, Nb, Pb1 and Pb2 latencies. For the three-dipole model the Pb1 source was discarded. The dipole parameters were then optimized to best explain the signal over the whole Pa-to-Pb2 time period (3085 ms). The dipole locations obtained with these models did not differ considerably as compared with the results obtained with the moving dipole model, and variations remained within inter-session variability. The results pointed to the same active anatomical structures, except for the case of four simultaneous dipoles, in which the Pa source was localized far from the auditory cortical region (parietal white matter). However, the time courses of the sources were not convincing enough, each explaining several components, and thus providing no cue to establish a reliable correspondence between the components and their sources. Gutschalk et al. (Gutschalk et al., 1999
) have suggested that two sources could be responsible for the MLCs, respectively in the medial HG and in a more lateral part of HG. We further investigated whether our three sources obtained on a moving dipole procedure could be explained by two overlapping dipole sources. For this purpose, a two-dipole model was tested in the same time range (3085 ms), with initial conditions set at the Pa and Nb locations. Localization results are given in Figure 8
, together with the RMS error between experimental and model data (RMS = 1 gof). The two-dipole model sources fell in the medial PT and the anterolateral Heschl's gyri, at locations quite intermediate with respect to the three-dipole model sources. Although this model nicely explained Pa and Pb1/2 components, it failed to explain the experimental data over the entire time range, and especially at the Nb latency (vertical dashed line), where the RMS error remained important (6%). We are tempted to attribute Gutschalk et al.'s different findings either to the different protocol used (faster stimulation rate) or to their use of higher high-pass filter settings (20 Hz), which might have mixed Pb and Nb components as described in the method section and in Figure 1
.
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This lateral activity might be paralleled to PET and fMRI activations of similar regions. Using PET, Lockwood et al. (Lockwood et al., 1999) showed that a pure-tone sequence presented to the right ear activated PAC in both hemispheres and also the STG/PT region in the left hemisphere. They also reported additional activated regions outside the temporal lobe, namely the posterior cingulate cortex and the lateral cerebellum. Several fMRI studies using either simple stimuli such as pure tones or noise bursts (Binder et al., 1994
; Strainer et al., 1997
; Scheich et al., 1998
; Rauschecker, 1998b
; Stippich et al., 1998
) or more complex sounds (Binder et al., 1994
; Belin et al., 1999
, 2000
; Hashimoto et al., 2000
) also indicated activations in secondary areas including the STG. Interestingly, Rauschecker (Rauschecker, 1998b
) has published fMRI results (Wessinger et al., 1997b
) showing three neighboring supratemporal activities in medial and antero-lateral HG, and STG areas. This scheme corresponds perfectly with our findings. In the macaque, the STG activity has been shown to be dramatically enhanced when band-pass noise bursts or more complex stimuli than pure tones were applied (Rauschecker et al., 1995
; Rauschecker, 1998a
).
The possible involvement of secondary areas in the generation of MLCs, as shown in our study, is in agreement with MLC mapping studies in animals. Barth and Di (Barth and Di, 1991; Di and Barth, 1992
) have mapped MLC components over the exposed auditory cortex of slightly anesthetized rats with a high spatial resolution. They found two early sharp positive peaks, the earlier one at ~10 ms over the primary auditory cortex and the later one at ~12 ms over a more caudo-dorsal secondary area. All MLC components until 60 ms could be explained by activities in these two areas (Di and Barth, 1992
). Juckel et al. (Juckel et al., 1996
) have described an early positive MLC component in cats, called P12, peaking at ~12 ms over the primary cortex (AI) and 1 ms later over the secondary cortex (AII). Over AII, this wave was followed by a prominent positive wave, called P25, peaking at ~25 ms. In a series of studies (Buchwald et al., 1981
; Erwin and Buchwald, 1986a
, 1986b
; Chen and Buchwald, 1986
), Buchwald and colleagues have shown that these two waves are differently sensitive to arousal state and stimulus rate, in ways similar to the behaviors of Na/Pa and Pb components in humans: while P12 in cats and Na/Pa in humans are weakly affected by these parameters, P25 and Pb are strongly affected. The authors thus paralleled these waves across species. Furthermore, their findings led them to support the existence of parallel thalamo-cortical routes generating separately early and late MLC components: P12 would reflect activation of the primary pathway, and P25 that of secondary pathways modulated by the ascending reticular arousal system. Further studies on guinea pigs (Kraus et al., 1992
; McGee et al., 1992
; Kraus and McGee, 1995
), using pharmacological inactivation of primary (ventral) and secondary (caudo-medial) divisions of the medial geniculate body (MGB) and of the mesencephalic reticular formation, also support two parallel thalamocortical routes underlying MLC components.
Recent intracerebral stimulation results in humans (Howard et al., 2000) suggest another possible origin of the lateral STG activity. Using intracerebral leads in HG and surface grid electrodes covering the STG, these authors could stimulate a portion of HG, presumably corresponding to PAC, and simultaneously record the activity over the STG. Pronounced STG responses starting as early as 3 ms and peaking at ~15 ms after HG stimulation were reported, suggesting the existence of corticocortical connections between both areas. Such connections could thus mediate auditory information from the PAC region to the STG with a delay of ~1020 ms, corresponding to the time interval between Pa and Nb/Pb1 components.
Both secondary thalamo-cortical and cortico-cortical connections could thus contribute to the STG activity. Anatomical findings in the primate [recently reviewed by Kaas et al. (Kaas et al., 1999)] confirm that this region receives its major inputs both from secondary divisions of the MGB and from the PAC (Rauschecker et al., 1997
). Studies in patients with focal lesions of the PAC could help to raise final conclusions on this issue.
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This work was supported by the Fyssen Foundation (Paris) through a postdoctoral fellowship awarded to B.Y., by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Pa 392/63) and by an APART-fellowship granted to A.S.-P. by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (APART 524).
Address correspondence to Blaise Yvert, Inserm Unité 280, 151 cours Albert Tomas, F-69424 Lyon cedex 03, France. Email: yvert{at}lyon151.inserm.fr.
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