A signal of temporal integration in the human auditory brain: psychological insights, EEG evidence, and clinical application

Abstract

Temporal integration, the process by which the auditory system combines sound information over a curtain period to form a coherent auditory object, is essential for coherent auditory perception, yet its neural mechanisms remain underexplored. We use a "transitional click train" paradigm, which concatenates two click trains with slightly differing inter-click intervals (ICIs), to investigate temporal integration in the human cortex. Using a 64-channel electroencephalogram (EEG), we recorded responses from 42 healthy participants exposed to regular and irregular transitional click trains and conducted change detection tasks. Regular transitional click trains elicited significant change responses in the human cortex, indicative of temporal integration, whereas irregular trains did not. These neural responses were modulated by ICI length, ICI contrast, and regularity. Behavioral data mirrored EEG findings, showing enhanced detection for regular conditions compared to irregular conditions and pure tones. Furthermore, variations in change responses were associated with decision-making processes. Temporal continuity was critical, as introducing gaps between click trains diminished both behavioral and neural responses. In clinical assessments, 22 coma patients exhibited diminished or absent change responses, effectively distinguishing them from healthy individuals. Our findings identify distinct neural markers of temporal integration and highlight the potential of transitional click trains for clinical diagnostics.