%A Song,Kun %A Luo,Huan %D 2017 %J Frontiers in Psychology %C %F %G English %K Temporal scale,temporal orgnization,auditory memory,unsupervised noise memory paradigm,memory transferring %Q %R 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00999 %W %L %M %P %7 %8 2017-June-19 %9 Original Research %+ Kun Song,Department of Connectomics, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research,Frankfurt, Germany,zgndsongkun@126.com %+ Dr Huan Luo,School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University,Beijing, China,zgndsongkun@126.com %+ Dr Huan Luo,IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University,Beijing, China,zgndsongkun@126.com %+ Dr Huan Luo,Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University,Beijing, China,zgndsongkun@126.com %# %! temporal structures of auditory memory %* %< %T Temporal Organization of Sound Information in Auditory Memory %U https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00999 %V 8 %0 JOURNAL ARTICLE %@ 1664-1078 %X Memory is a constructive and organizational process. Instead of being stored with all the fine details, external information is reorganized and structured at certain spatiotemporal scales. It is well acknowledged that time plays a central role in audition by segmenting sound inputs into temporal chunks of appropriate length. However, it remains largely unknown whether critical temporal structures exist to mediate sound representation in auditory memory. To address the issue, here we designed an auditory memory transferring study, by combining a previously developed unsupervised white noise memory paradigm with a reversed sound manipulation method. Specifically, we systematically measured the memory transferring from a random white noise sound to its locally temporal reversed version on various temporal scales in seven experiments. We demonstrate a U-shape memory-transferring pattern with the minimum value around temporal scale of 200 ms. Furthermore, neither auditory perceptual similarity nor physical similarity as a function of the manipulating temporal scale can account for the memory-transferring results. Our results suggest that sounds are not stored with all the fine spectrotemporal details but are organized and structured at discrete temporal chunks in long-term auditory memory representation.