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Updated: Oct 2, 2026

Mapping Cortical Dynamics Using Simultaneous MEG/EEG and Anatomically-constrained Minimum-norm Estimates: an Auditory Attention Example
Published on: October 24, 2012
Neuromagnetic responses to frequency-tagged sounds: a new method to follow inputs from each ear to the human auditory
Nobuya Fujiki1, Veikko Jousmaki, Riitta Hari
1Brain Research Unit, Low Temperature Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology, FIN-02015 HUT, Espoo, Finland. fujiki@hs.m.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Abstract:
Binaural cortical responses are mixtures of inputs from both ears. We introduce here a novel method that allows, for the first time, to selectively follow these inputs in humans up to the cortex during binaural hearing. We recorded neuromagnetic cortical responses to amplitude-modulated continuous tones, with different modulation frequencies at each ear. During binaural hearing, the left- and right-ear inputs competed strongly in both auditory cortices: the right-hemisphere responses were symmetrically suppressed, compared with monaural stimulation, for sounds of both ears, whereas the left-hemisphere responses were suppressed significantly more for ipsilateral than contralateral sounds, thereby intensifying the right-ear dominance of the left auditory cortex. This type of hemisphere- and ear-selective information on cortical binaural interaction could have important applications in human auditory neuroscience.
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