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Updated: Aug 21, 2026
Functional Imaging of Auditory Cortex in Adult Cats using High-field fMRI
Published on: February 19, 2014
[Advances in the study of primary auditory cortex. Demostration of its activation by functional magnetic resonance
L M Menéndez-Colino1, C Falcón, J Trasera
1Servicio de Otorrinolaringología y Patología Cérvico-Facial, SCT-Universidad de Barcelona. 34227lmc@comb.es
Purpose:
The purpose of this preliminary study has been to demonstrate and investigate the activation patterns of the primary auditory cortex (Heschl's gyrus = HG) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Material And Methods:
A 2500 Hz tone stimulus was delivered monoaurally to the right and left ear of 15 normal-hearing right-handed volunteers in 20-second on-off cycles. FMRI data were obtained using a 1.5-Tesla scanner and processed with SPM2.
Results:
Activated pixels were identified in the transverse temporal gyrus (Heschl's gyrus) of both hemispheres in response to pure tone stimuli using cross-correlation analysis (P < 0.001). Bilateral hemispheric activation was observed in all subjects and there was a trend towards contralateral HG activation to the stimulated ear.
Conclusion:
These results demonstrate directly that fMRI is a new and useful imaging technique to study the complex auditory cortex and it will have potential clinical applications in the next future.
