DOI: 10.5061/dryad.h44j0zpww
title: The neural activity of auditory conscious perception

description: Although recent work has made headway in understanding the neural
 temporospatial dynamics of conscious perception, much of that work has
 focused on visual paradigms. To determine whether there are shared
 mechanisms for perceptual consciousness across sensory modalities, here we
 test within the auditory domain. Participants completed an auditory
 threshold task while undergoing intracranial electroencephalography.
 Recordings from &gt;2,800 grey matter electrodes were analyzed for
 broadband gamma power (a range which reflects local neural activity). For
 perceived trials, we find nearly simultaneous activity in early auditory
 regions, the right caudal middle frontal gyrus, and the non-auditory
 thalamus; followed by a wave of activity that sweeps through auditory
 association regions into parietal and frontal cortices. For not perceived
 trials, significant activity is restricted to early auditory regions.
 These findings show the cortical and subcortical networks involved in
 auditory perception are similar to those observed with vision, suggesting
 shared mechanisms for conscious perception.
description: # The neural activity of auditory conscious perception Dryad dataset DOI:
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.h44j0zpww](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.h44j0zpww) Associated article DOI: ([https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121041](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121041)). ### BEHAVIOR The raw behavioral files are in behavioraldata. With the exception of subjects 451 and 548, all behavior files contained represent the entirety of data for that subject. 451 and 548 each have 3 files: 2 that are partial files, and one that ends in the word '_combined'. For behavioral analyses, the combined file should be used. Each behavior file includes the following: allanswers_noisecalibration_all allanswers_noiserun allanswers_noiserun_all numberofnoiseruns numberruns_total pipelineversion_number sessionnumber subject_idnumber tasktype threshold_overall_whitenoise threshold_overall_whitenoise_all allanswers_noisecalibration_all and allanswers_noiserun_all (and allanswers_noiserun) contain a matrix with 29* columns. In allanswers_noisecalibration_all, many of these are blank because it uses the same overall structure as allanswers_noiserun_all, but has fewer answered questions. This is the meaning of the columns: 1. Was a sound heard?: for Calibration: 1 means yes; 2 means no response [no sound heard]. For noise_run, 1 means yes, 2 means no. 2. Reaction time to the above. For Calibration: This is the time after the target sound was played. For noise_run, it is the reaction time after question 1 [above] was displayed. (time in s) 3. What sound was it? For calibration: NaN (sound ID not asked); For noise-run: 1 is whistle; 2 is laser; 3 is waterdrop 4. Reaction time to above (time in s) 5. Amplitude of sound (0-1) 6. Where sound was presented (2=center) 7. Sample when the sound was started 8. Sampling frequency of sound (Hz) 9. frequency (always NaN) 10. Total duration of audio in trial (in s) 11. Duration of target sound (in s) 12. Session number (starts counting at 1) 13. Number of runs completed (starts counting at 0) 14. Non-corrected answer to 1 15. Answer to question 2 16. Task type (always 4) 17. Which button means yes? Button 1 18. Which button means no? 19. Which white noise column was used? (always 1) 20. Which sample did the white noise start at? 21. How many total samples are there? 22. What target sound was actually played (0 is no sound; 1 is whistle; 2 is laser; 3 is waterdrop) 23. Start of Run (relative to task set up) 24. Start of Trial (relative to task set up) 25. Start of sound relative to trial start 26. Question 1 presentation time (relative to task setup) 27. Question 1 answer time (relative to task set up) 28. Question 2 presentation time (relative to task setup) 29. Question 2 answer time (relative to task set up) *Rows 23-29 were added after data collection began as a method of troubleshooting, but are not used for analysis purposes allanswers_noiserun contains the above, but just for the most recent run that was completed. numberofnoiseruns and numberruns_total indicate the number of runs completed (noiseruns are the ones included in these analyses) pipelineversion_number: internal record-keeping, for small updates in code sessionnumber: how many sessions did it take to reach the final trial count subject_idnumber: subject's internal ID tasktype: internal record keeping; several types of tasks could be run threshold_overall_whitenoise: most recent threshold calibration threshold_overall_whitenoise_all: record of all thresholds used ### Parcellation maps For statistical analyses, 100 parcellations were produced to tile the cortical surface. These are contained in the folder parcellationmaps. Each parcellation map has its own folder, and 2 .mat files: one for the left, and one for the right. For each of these files, there is one column; the row index corresponds to the vertex # for that hemisphere. The number contained in that column corresponds to the parcellation number for that parcellation map. The folder also contains a visualization for that particular parcellation. ### EEG Each subject folder contains 3 files: L_MontageMap R_MontageMap and a sorted trials file Montage Maps contain grey-matter electrode locations in the left and right hemispheres. Column 1 is the electrode #, and columns 2-4 are the 3d MNI coordinates of the electrode. The sorted trials file contains EEG data for each patient. It contains the following: BC_trials: channels x samples x trials array of perceived trials (“BC” abbreviation is old and used for backwards compatibility purposes) WG_trials: channels x samples x trials array of not perceived trials (“WG” abbreviation is old and used for backwards compatibility purposes) blank_TN_trials: channels x samples x trials array of True Negative blank trials (where no target sounds were presented) Where channels correspond to electrode #; samples contain 2 seconds at the patient's sampling rate, and trials are organized in the order of appearance in the behavior for that particular trial type. E.g., If the subject had the following behavior: trial 1 - correct trial 2 - incorrect trial 3 - correct trial 4 - blank trial 5 - correct trial 6 - incorrect The z-dimension of the BC_-, WG_-, and blank_TN_trials would contain the information from the following trials: BC_trials: trial 1 would be the first "page" (first of the 3rd-dimensional element); trial 3 would be the 2nd page, and trial 5 would be 3rd page WG_trials: trial 2 would be the first page; trial 6 would be second page blank_TN_trials: trial 4 would be the first page ## **Version Update** **06/09/2025** partitioned the EEG data into 4 10GB parts to make it easier for users to download; the original size is 36GB