Auditory imagery modulates frequency-specific areas in the human auditory cortex

Neural responses in early sensory areas are influenced by top-down processing. In the visual system, early visual areas have been shown to actively participate in top-down processing based on their topographical properties. Although it has been suggested that the auditory cortex is involved in top-down control, functional evidence of topographic modulation is still lacking. Here, we show that mental auditory imagery for familiar melodies induces significant activation in the frequency-responsive areas of the primary auditory cortex (PAC). This activation is related to the characteristics of the imagery: when subjects were asked to imagine high-frequency melodies, we observed increased activation in the high- versus low-frequency response area; when the subjects were asked to imagine low-frequency melodies, the opposite was observed. Furthermore, we found that A1 is more closely related to the observed frequency-related modulation than R in tonotopic subfields of the PAC. Our findings suggest that top-down processing in the auditory cortex relies on a mechanism similar to that used in the perception of external auditory stimuli, which is comparable to early visual systems.