Neural evidence for sound-object encoding requires holding the stimulus constant

Evidence

We will take the position that auditory objects are analogous to perceptual representations (i.e., sounds) (Bizley and Cohen 2013 ). As a consequence of this definition, if a neuron encodes an auditory object, it should be modulated by a listener’s perceptual reports. That is, by holding a stimulus constant and testing whether neural activity is modulated by a listener’s reports, neural activity that is associated with the acoustic features of the stimulus can be dissociated from neural activity associated with the perceptual report. — Dijk, Pim van, Physiology, Psychoacoustics and…, 4878

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the operational test that distinguishes feature-responsive neurons from genuine perceptual-representation neurons.
• DEEPTHINKING: The constant-stimulus/report-manipulation logic recurs across all of sensory neuroscience as the discipline’s core dissociation method.