Human auditory belt areas specialized in sound recognition: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study

The human primary auditory cortex is surrounded by at least six other, anatomically distinct areas that process auditory information. We have investigated their specialization with respect to sound recognition or sound localization with triple epoch functional magnetic resonance imaging paradigm (recognition-localization-rest) in 18 normal individuals. In each study participant, the pattern of selective activation by the recognition or by the localization tasks was superimposed on the map of the nonprimary auditory areas, as identified in previous anatomical studies. Two areas, anterior lateral and anterior areas, were activated bilaterally in significantly more individuals by the recognition than by the localization task. They are proposed to be human homologues of macaque anterolateral auditory belt area.