ABSTRACT

Available literature shows sex-related differences in both anatomy and functions of the auditory cortex. However, only few data are available on passive listening. By means of event-related potentials (ERPs), we analyzed the proactive and reactive stages of processing related to passive listening in 36 healthy young participants, equally balanced between genders. The anterior positivity (aP), a newly discovered pre-stimulus component originating in auditory cortices and indexing auditory readiness, was not different between genders; the post-stimulus components (the N1 and the N2, originating in primary and secondary auditory cortices) were larger in females than males. These results not only provide significant insights on sex-related differences during listening, but also encourage the potential use of passive tasks, which allow for better understanding of basic neural processing, without interferences from cognitive requirements of active tasks.

摘要

现有文献显示听觉皮层的解剖结构和功能存在性别相关的差异。然而，关于被动聆听的数据很少。通过事件相关电位 (ERP)，我们分析了 36 名健康的年轻参与者与被动倾听相关的主动和被动处理阶段，性别均衡。前阳性 (aP) 是一种新发现的前刺激成分，起源于听觉皮层并指示听觉准备，在性别之间没有差异。女性的刺激后成分（N1 和 N2，起源于初级和次级听觉皮层）比男性大。这些结果不仅提供了对听力过程中性别相关差异的重要见解，而且还鼓励了被动任务的潜在使用，