Decomposition and integration of monosyllabic information for auditory perceptual process

A hierarchical neuronal network model is Proposed for monosyllabic sound perception. The first stage decomposes monosyllabic sounds into time-varying spectral elements. The second stage integrates these spectral elements into point attractors corresponding to noise burst component, frequency-modulated (FM) component, and constant frequency component of a monosyllable. The third stage integrates these three components into a single point attractor corresponding to the monosyllable. We show that the perception of a monosyllabic sound is the emergence of one point attractor corresponding to the monosyllable in network dynamics at the third stage. The FM component is necessary for encoding monosyllables into relevant point attractors but not for monosyllabic sound perception. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.