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Related Concept Videos

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location01:21

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...
Auditory Pathway01:15

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...
Hearing01:31

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.
The Cochlea01:13

The Cochlea

The cochlea is a coiled structure in the inner ear that contains hair cells—the sensory receptors of the auditory system. Sound waves are transmitted to the cochlea by small bones attached to the eardrum called the ossicles, which vibrate the oval window that leads to the inner ear. This causes fluid in the chambers of the cochlea to move, vibrating the basilar membrane.
Neuroplasticity01:01

Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity reflects the brain's remarkable capacity to adapt and evolve, responding dynamically to learning, experiences, or injury by reorganizing its neural circuitry. This reorganization involves creating new neural connections and refining old ones through a series of biological processes that contribute to the brain's lifelong development and adaptability.
Hair Cells01:22

Hair Cells

Hair cells are the sensory receptors of the auditory system—they transduce mechanical sound waves into electrical energy that the nervous system can understand. Hair cells are located in the organ of Corti within the cochlea of the inner ear, between the basilar and tectorial membranes. The actual sensory receptors are called inner hair cells. The outer hair cells serve other functions, such as sound amplification in the cochlea, and are not discussed in detail here.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 23, 2026

Combined Shuttle-Box Training with Electrophysiological Cortex Recording and Stimulation as a Tool to Study Perception and Learning
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Published on: October 22, 2015

Experience-dependent plasticity in pitch encoding: from brainstem to auditory cortex.

Ananthanarayan Krishnan1, Jackson Thomas Gandour, Gavin M Bidelman

  • 1Department of Speech Language Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA. rkrish@purdue.edu

Neuroreport
|April 13, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Neural processing of linguistic and musical pitch transforms sensory input into cognitive representations, shaped by experience and functional relevance. This study explores how the brain encodes pitch, revealing experience-induced enhancements in auditory processing.

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Mapping the After-effects of Theta Burst Stimulation on the Human Auditory Cortex with Functional Imaging
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Last Updated: May 23, 2026

Combined Shuttle-Box Training with Electrophysiological Cortex Recording and Stimulation as a Tool to Study Perception and Learning
08:43

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Published on: October 22, 2015

Stereotactically-guided Ablation of the Rat Auditory Cortex, and Localization of the Lesion in the Brain
09:29

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Mapping the After-effects of Theta Burst Stimulation on the Human Auditory Cortex with Functional Imaging
10:09

Mapping the After-effects of Theta Burst Stimulation on the Human Auditory Cortex with Functional Imaging

Published on: September 12, 2012

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Auditory Neuroscience
  • Psychoacoustics

Background:

  • Pitch processing in the human brain involves transformations from early sensory to later cognitive stages.
  • Neural representations of pitch are influenced by functional relevance and perceptual salience.
  • Experience shapes how the brain encodes pitch-relevant information.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the neural transformation of pitch attributes from sensory to cognitive processing.
  • To understand how listener experience modulates neural pitch representations.
  • To explore the role of functional ear asymmetry and network mechanisms in pitch processing.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of neural representations of linguistic and musical pitch.
  • Evaluation of pitch attribute transformation across processing stages.
  • Examination of experience-induced changes in neural encoding.

Main Results:

  • Pitch attributes are differentially shaped by functional relevance.
  • Neural encoding is influenced by perceptual salience at subcortical and cortical levels.
  • Functional ear asymmetry emerges at lower sensory processing levels, suggesting network involvement.

Conclusions:

  • Local, feedforward, and feedback mechanisms coordinate in pitch processing.
  • Experience enhances pitch representations at multiple auditory pathway levels.
  • A theoretical neural network framework is proposed to explain these findings.