Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Auditory Perception

Auditory Perception

The auditory system is essential for sound perception, utilizing various critical structures. When sound waves enter the outer ear, they travel through the ear canal and cause the eardrum to vibrate. These vibrations are then transmitted to the middle ear, where three tiny bones – the malleus, incus, and stapes – amplify the sound. This amplification is crucial, as it ensures that the sound vibrations are strong enough to be conveyed to the inner ear. These vibrations then reach the cochlea, a...

Auditory Pathway

Auditory Pathway

Auditory pathways constitute the complex neural circuits responsible for transmitting and interpreting auditory information from the peripheral auditory system to the brain. Sound waves are initially captured by the outer ear, funneled through the ear canal, and reach the tympanic membrane (eardrum). These vibrations are transmitted via the middle ear's ossicles to the inner ear's cochlea.
When viewed cross-sectionally, the cochlea reveals the scala vestibuli and scala tympani flanking the...

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location

The human brain perceives pitch through two primary mechanisms reflected in place theory and frequency theory. Each mechanism describes how sound waves are interpreted as specific pitches by the brain, offering insights into the intricate processes of auditory perception.
Place theory, or place coding, suggests that different pitches are heard because various sound waves activate specific locations along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The brain determines the pitch of a sound by identifying...

Hearing

Hearing

When we hear a sound, our nervous system is detecting sound waves—pressure waves of mechanical energy traveling through a medium. The frequency of the wave is perceived as pitch, while the amplitude is perceived as loudness.

Perception of Sound Waves

Perception of Sound Waves

The human ear is not equally sensitive to all frequencies in the audible range. It may perceive sound waves with the same pressure but different frequencies as having different loudness. Moreover, the perception of sound waves depends on the health of an individual's ears, which decays with age. The health of one's ears may also be affected by regular exposure to loud noises.
The pitch of a sound depends on the frequency and the pressure amplitude of the source. Two sounds of the same frequency...

Cognitive Development During Adulthood

Cognitive Development During Adulthood

Cognitive development continues throughout adulthood, undergoing significant shifts across early, middle, and late stages. Individual transition occurs from adolescent idealism to pragmatic and adaptable thinking in early adulthood. During this period, individuals learn to integrate personal beliefs with the recognition that other perspectives are equally valid. Exposure to the complexities of modern society, diverse experiences, and higher education contribute to this adaptive thought process,...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Individual Differences in Error-Related Brain Activity and Post-Error Slowing in Children.

Human brain mapping·2026

Same author

Stable individual differences dominate adult brain volume variation until later life.

Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)·2026

Same author

Aging in the city: Linking neighborhood features with whole-brain structural and micro-structural changes during aging.

Environmental research·2026

Same author

Comprehensive cross-sectional and longitudinal comparison of sixteen markers of biological aging from the Berlin Aging Study II.

Communications medicine·2026

Same author

Comparing fourteen consensus biomarkers of aging: epigenetic pace of aging as the strongest predictor of mortality in BASE-II.

Biomarker research·2026

Same author

Expertise-Dependent Brain Network Organization During Music Perception.

Human brain mapping·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations

Published on: July 1, 2015

Lifespan differences in cortical dynamics of auditory perception.

Viktor Müller¹, Walter Gruber, Wolfgang Klimesch

¹Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany. vmueller@mpib-berlin.mpg.de

Developmental Science

|October 21, 2009

Summary

Brain activity changes significantly from childhood to old age. Researchers found increased phase synchronization and decreased power in brain recordings during auditory tasks, suggesting a reorganization of perceptual processing across the lifespan.

More Related Videos

Quantitative Assessment of Cortical Auditory-tactile Processing in Children with Disabilities

Quantitative Assessment of Cortical Auditory-tactile Processing in Children with Disabilities

Published on: January 29, 2014

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations

Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations

Published on: July 1, 2015

Quantitative Assessment of Cortical Auditory-tactile Processing in Children with Disabilities

Quantitative Assessment of Cortical Auditory-tactile Processing in Children with Disabilities

Published on: January 29, 2014

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Developmental Psychology
Cognitive Aging

Background:

Auditory-oddball tasks are standard for assessing perceptual processing.
Cortical activity, measured via electroencephalography (EEG), reveals brain function.
Lifespan changes in neural dynamics are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate age-related differences in oscillatory cortical activity.
To compare brain function during auditory-oddball tasks across childhood, younger adulthood, and older adulthood.
To explore the relationship between phase synchronization and power changes over the lifespan.

Main Methods:

Electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings were used.
Participants included children (9-13 years), younger adults, and older adults.
Analysis focused on oscillatory cortical activity during an auditory-oddball task.

Main Results:

Phase synchronization (within and between electrodes) increased from childhood to old age.
Whole power and evoked power decreased across the lifespan.
An inverse relationship was observed between age trends in phase synchronization and power.

Conclusions:

Cortical dynamics of perceptual processing undergo substantial reorganization from childhood to old age.
Lifespan changes may involve shifts in neural background activity or coding strategies (rate vs. temporal).
Further research is needed to elucidate the mechanisms behind these age-related neural dynamics.