Frequency specific impairment of automatic pitch change detection by fMRI acoustic noise: An MEG study

• Published in: Journal of neuroscience methods Vol. 155; no. 1; pp. 149 - 159
• Main Authors: Novitski, N., Maess, B., Tervaniemi, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 15-07-2006
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation - methods; Acoustic Stimulation - standards; Adult; Brain Mapping - instrumentation; Brain Mapping - methods; Cerebral Cortex - anatomy & histology; Cerebral Cortex - physiology; Evoked Potentials, Auditory - physiology; Female; fMRI scanner noise; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - instrumentation; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Magnetoencephalography - instrumentation; Magnetoencephalography - methods; Male; MEG; MMN; Noise - prevention & control; P3a; Pitch Perception - physiology; Reaction Time - physiology; fMRI scanner noise; MEG; MMN; P3a
• ISSN: 0165-0270; 1872-678X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2006.01.030

The loud acoustic noise produced by the magnetic resonance scanner is a major source of interference in auditory fMRI research. Whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG) was used to investigate the interaction between the frequency range of auditory stimulation and fMRI acoustic noise. Pure tones and 3-harmonic complexes varying between 240 and 1240
Hz in frequency were presented while participants attended to a silent subtitled film. Continuous fMRI acoustic noise was presented during half of the blocks. The activity in six regions of interest was analyzed in 100–200 and 200–300
ms time windows to evaluate the magnetic counterparts of the mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a brain responses. The results suggested that fMRI noise significantly reduced the amplitude of these responses. The effect of the noise on the automatic processing of the tones was more prominent for the tones with frequencies higher than 500
Hz. It is recommended that in the MMN protocols using continuous fMRI acquisition the sound stimuli should be spectrally separated from the fMRI scanner noise spectrum.