Processing of harmonics in the lateral belt of macaque auditory cortex

Many speech sounds and animal vocalizations contain components, referred to as complex tones, that consist of a fundamental frequency (F0) and higher harmonics. In this study we examined single-unit activity recorded in the core (A1) and lateral belt (LB) areas of auditory cortex in two rhesus monke...

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Main Authors: Yukiko eKikuchi, Barry eHorwitz, Mortimer eMishkin, Josef P Rauschecker
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2014-07-01
Series:Frontiers in Neuroscience
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnins.2014.00204/full
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author Yukiko eKikuchi
Yukiko eKikuchi
Yukiko eKikuchi
Barry eHorwitz
Mortimer eMishkin
Josef P Rauschecker
author_facet Yukiko eKikuchi
Yukiko eKikuchi
Yukiko eKikuchi
Barry eHorwitz
Mortimer eMishkin
Josef P Rauschecker
author_sort Yukiko eKikuchi
collection DOAJ
description Many speech sounds and animal vocalizations contain components, referred to as complex tones, that consist of a fundamental frequency (F0) and higher harmonics. In this study we examined single-unit activity recorded in the core (A1) and lateral belt (LB) areas of auditory cortex in two rhesus monkeys as they listened to pure tones and pitch-shifted conspecific vocalizations (‘coos’). The latter consisted of complex-tone segments in which F0 was matched to a corresponding pure-tone stimulus. In both animals, neuronal latencies to pure-tone stimuli at the best frequency (BF) were ~10 to 15 ms longer in LB than in A1. This might be expected, since LB is considered to be at a hierarchically higher level than A1. On the other hand, the latency of LB responses to coos was ~10 to 20 ms shorter than to the corresponding pure-tone BF, suggesting facilitation in LB by the harmonics. This latency reduction by coos was not observed in A1, resulting in similar coo latencies in A1 and LB. Multi-peaked neurons were present in both A1 and LB; however, harmonically-related peaks were observed in LB for both early and late response components, whereas in A1 they were observed only for late components. Our results suggest that harmonic features, such as relationships between specific frequency intervals of communication calls, are processed at relatively early stages of the auditory cortical pathway, but preferentially in LB.
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spelling doaj.art-da834cb3f8a64a0693a501b75f87761f2022-12-21T23:26:43ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Neuroscience1662-453X2014-07-01810.3389/fnins.2014.0020487319Processing of harmonics in the lateral belt of macaque auditory cortexYukiko eKikuchi0Yukiko eKikuchi1Yukiko eKikuchi2Barry eHorwitz3Mortimer eMishkin4Josef P Rauschecker5Georgetown University Medical CenterNational Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of HealthNational Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of HealthNational Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of HealthNational Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of HealthGeorgetown University Medical CenterMany speech sounds and animal vocalizations contain components, referred to as complex tones, that consist of a fundamental frequency (F0) and higher harmonics. In this study we examined single-unit activity recorded in the core (A1) and lateral belt (LB) areas of auditory cortex in two rhesus monkeys as they listened to pure tones and pitch-shifted conspecific vocalizations (‘coos’). The latter consisted of complex-tone segments in which F0 was matched to a corresponding pure-tone stimulus. In both animals, neuronal latencies to pure-tone stimuli at the best frequency (BF) were ~10 to 15 ms longer in LB than in A1. This might be expected, since LB is considered to be at a hierarchically higher level than A1. On the other hand, the latency of LB responses to coos was ~10 to 20 ms shorter than to the corresponding pure-tone BF, suggesting facilitation in LB by the harmonics. This latency reduction by coos was not observed in A1, resulting in similar coo latencies in A1 and LB. Multi-peaked neurons were present in both A1 and LB; however, harmonically-related peaks were observed in LB for both early and late response components, whereas in A1 they were observed only for late components. Our results suggest that harmonic features, such as relationships between specific frequency intervals of communication calls, are processed at relatively early stages of the auditory cortical pathway, but preferentially in LB.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnins.2014.00204/fullAuditory Cortexsingle-unitmacaquesharmonicscommunication callsmultipeaked neurons
spellingShingle Yukiko eKikuchi
Yukiko eKikuchi
Yukiko eKikuchi
Barry eHorwitz
Mortimer eMishkin
Josef P Rauschecker
Processing of harmonics in the lateral belt of macaque auditory cortex
Frontiers in Neuroscience
Auditory Cortex
single-unit
macaques
harmonics
communication calls
multipeaked neurons
title Processing of harmonics in the lateral belt of macaque auditory cortex
title_full Processing of harmonics in the lateral belt of macaque auditory cortex
title_fullStr Processing of harmonics in the lateral belt of macaque auditory cortex
title_full_unstemmed Processing of harmonics in the lateral belt of macaque auditory cortex
title_short Processing of harmonics in the lateral belt of macaque auditory cortex
title_sort processing of harmonics in the lateral belt of macaque auditory cortex
topic Auditory Cortex
single-unit
macaques
harmonics
communication calls
multipeaked neurons
url http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnins.2014.00204/full
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