Mini-Session on the Neural Bases of Generalized "Scene" Analysis

Chair: Shihab Shamma

Presenters: Max Riesenhuber, Henning Scheich

Session overview

Auditory scene analysis has been strongly associated with relatively simple auditory stimuli or stereotyped presentation paradigms (e.g., sequential periodic tones). However, almost all known ASA phenomena have their correlates in other sensory modalities (e.g., vision) or with fairly abstract and complex stimuli (e.g. music). So can ASA be viewed as simply a consequence of general properties of neural function in the cortex - a side-effect of the way sensory (and perhaps even motor) areas represent and process information? If so, what are these relevant "general" properties? And how do they manifest themselves as generalized "scene" analysis? In this session, Simon Thorpe and Steve McAdams will review some of the compelling examples of scene analysis in vision and with musical sounds. Scheich will then review the neural properties and findings that shed light on these generalized mechanisms relevant to scene analysis. Shamma will tie these presentations to related findings in animal physiology and behavior.