Following the Tune: Divergent Processing Strategies for Auditory Sequence Recognition in Humans and a Songbird

Aug 2026

Voice perception reflects graded sensitivity to acoustic cues along the auditory hierarchy.

Humans readily recognize voices in noisy, challenging environments, yet how the brain does this remains poorly understood. A key question is whether the brain is tuned to detect "voice-like" qualities present in sounds. To test this, we asked whether voice perception relies on sensitivity to acoustic patterns shared by...

Jasmine L. Hect, Kyle M. Rupp, Avniel Singh Ghuman et al. · Current Biology · 0 citations

Aug 2026

The automatic neural processing of musical pitch categorization: evidence from mismatch negativity.

While the categorical perception (CP) of musical pitch is often attributed to systematic musical training, prior work suggests that long-term experience, such as language background, can also shape pitch processing. However, it remains unclear whether musical pitch CP undergoes automatic neural processing at the pre-at...

Jie Liang, Shuqi Yin, Keke Yu et al. · Brain and Cognition · 0 citations

Open access Jul 2026

Hierarchical neural integration of musical structure during expert performance

This study highlights novel mechanisms of complex auditory-motor action planning during live music performance by scrambling an unfamiliar Tchaikovsky piano suite at four timescales and asking expert pianists to play all four versions in the fMRI scanner.

Jamal A. Williams, Coraline Rinn Iordan, Riesa Y. Cassano-Coleman et al. · bioRxiv · 0 citations

Open access Jul 2026

Duration, but not intensity cues, facilitate synchronization to complex rhythms

Rhythm emerges from the temporal patterning of sounds and the expectations that shape how we hear them. Rather than passively listening to incoming events, listeners organize timing information through internal predictions and external acoustic cues. In speech, louder sounds tend to mark the start of a group, whereas l...

A. Chavez, J. M. Toro · Attention, Perception, & Psy... · 0 citations

Open access Sep 2026

Attention to memory: Asymmetric enhancement of mnemonic features in auditory working memory

Models of auditory attention propose that multiple sound features are integrated into a perceptual object and that selective attention enhances the fidelity of these object-based representations. Similar attentional mechanisms appear to operate on representations held in auditory working memory, yet evidence has largel...

David Peita, Sung-Joo Lim · Psychonomic Bulletin & Revie... · 0 citations

Review Open access Sep 2026

Critical Review on the Development and Evolution of Beat Perception

Beat perception—the ability to extract a regular pulse from rhythmic sequences—is a foundational component of human musicality and a key mechanism supporting synchronization, dance, and collective music‐making. Research across neuroscience, developmental psychology, and comparative cognition demonstrates that beat proc...

G. Háden, H. Honing · Annals of the New York Acade... · 0 citations