Binaural interaction and the octave illusion

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© 2012 Acoustical Society of America (ASA). This is the accepted version of the following article: Lamminmäki, Satu & Mandel, Anne & Parkkonen, Lauri & Hari, Riitta. 2012. Binaural interaction and the octave illusion. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. Volume 132, Issue 3. 1747-1753. ISSN 1520-8524 (electronic). DOI: 10.1121/1.4740474, which has been published in final form at http://scitation.aip.org/content/asa/journal/jasa;jsessionid=8495apccp7p7.x-aip-live-06.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
School of Science | A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Date
2012
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Language
en
Pages
1747-1753
Series
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Volume 132, Issue 3
Abstract
The auditory octave illusion arises when dichotically presented tones, one octave apart, alternate rapidly between the ears. Most subjects perceive an illusory sequence of monaural tones: A high tone in the right ear (RE) alternates with a low tone, incorrectly localized to the left ear (LE). Behavioral studies suggest that the perceived pitch follows the RE input, and the perceived location the higher-frequency sound. To explore the link between the perceived pitches and brain-level interactions of dichotic tones, magnetoencephalographic responses were recorded to 4 binaural combinations of 2-min long continuous 400- and 800-Hz tones and to 4 monaural tones. Responses to LE and RE inputs were distinguished by frequency-tagging the ear-specific stimuli at different modulation frequencies. During dichotic presentation, ipsilateral LE tones elicited weaker and ipsilateral RE tones stronger responses than when both ears received the same tone. During the most paradoxical stimulus—high tone to LE and low tone to RE perceived as a low tone in LE during the illusion—also the contralateral responses to LE tones were diminished. The results demonstrate modified binaural interaction of dichotic tones one octave apart, suggesting that this interaction contributes to pitch perception during the octave illusion.
Description
Keywords
hearing, magnetoencephalographic responses, music
Other note
Citation
Lamminmäki, Satu & Mandel, Anne & Parkkonen, Lauri & Hari, Riitta. 2012. Binaural interaction and the octave illusion. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. Volume 132, Issue 3. 1747-1753. ISSN 1520-8524 (electronic). DOI: 10.1121/1.4740474.