Magnetic fields elicited by tones and vowel formants reveal tonotopy and nonlinear summation of cortical activation

A long-latency response component (N1m) and the sustained field (SF) of the auditory evoked magnetic field elicited by two composite stimuli (a two-tone combination and a two-formant vowel) and their individually presented components (a 600-Hz and a 2100-Hz pure tone and two single-vowel formants with formant frequencies matched to the tone frequencies) were recorded using a 37-channel magnetometer. The response to the composite stimuli differed from the linear sum of the responses to the respective components in latency, equivalent dipole moment, and equivalent dipole location, suggesting an interaction among the processes elicited by the constituents of composite stimuli. N1m and SF source locations were more medial for the response to the high tone than to the low tone and more medial for the response to the high vowel formant than to the low vowel formant. The N1m formant sources were more lateral than the N1m tone sources. These findings suggest that, at the level of the auditory cortex, vowels are represented in terms of both the spectral pitches determined by their most prominent harmonics and, within the latency range of the N1m, the virtual pitch determined by the spacing of the harmonics.