Population Coding of Species-Specific Vocalizations

描述（由申请人提供）：听觉皮层的能力， 在声学环境中识别和提取相关通信声音 包含其他不相关声音的声音被称为听觉场景分析。这种能力对于任何健壮的通信系统都是重要的 在现实的环境中运作。此应用程序的目标是 检查一个可能的机制，通过它进行听觉场景分析。这 可能的机制是神经元的同步活动，这可能有助于 将发声与其他声音分开。大量证据 表明同步神经元活动是大脑皮层的一个普遍特征， 和丘脑网络。这一活动的职能作用仍然主要是 然而，未知。这些发现导致了一个假设，即同步 活动反映了分布式神经元活动的分组， 综合刺激特征的表示。这一假说预测， 同步的相互作用应该发生在位于多个神经元之间。 皮质区这项研究的目的是为了扩大我们的理解， 听觉皮层的同步。为了实现这一目标，我们 将调查的发生，适当的联系，和刺激依赖性 同时发生的神经元活动的时间相关性， 在绒猴听觉皮层的听觉区A1、R和AL之间。同时 将从三个听觉皮层区域中的每一个进行记录， 绒猴以一种不受约束的方式与同伴进行语音交流。这将 允许评估区域间的同步性，其时间动态， 它所表达的刺激条件。多信道无线系统 将建立一个记录和分析活动的过程， 分布在不受约束的动物中的神经元群。这将提供一个 一个强大的工具，将用于跟踪神经通路，处理物种特异性 发声这将使数据被记录为动物自然 相互影响，这是不可能与克制的动物。一个 该系统的另一个好处是，它将提供一种研究 更高的皮层区域，其中最佳刺激不是先验已知的。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ability of the auditory cortex to identify and extract relevant communication sounds in an acoustic environment that contains other irrelevant sounds is known as auditory scene analysis. This ability is important for any robust communication system that operates in a realistic environment. The goal of this application is to examine a possible mechanism by which auditory scene analysis is performed. This possible mechanism is the synchronous activity of neurons, which may facilitate the separation of vocalizations from other sounds. A large body of evidence indicates that synchronous neuronal activity is a general feature of cortical and thalamic networks. The functional role of this activity is still largely unknown, however. These findings have led to the hypothesis that synchronous activity reflects the grouping of distributed neuronal activities into a common representation of integrated stimulus features. This hypothesis predicts that synchronous interactions should occur between neurons located in multiple cortical areas. The objective of the proposed research is to expand our under-standing of synchronization in the auditory cortex. To achieve this goal, we will investigate the occurrence, proper ties, and stimulus dependence of temporal correlations of neuronal activity occurring simultaneously within and between auditory areas A1, R, and AL of marmoset auditory cortex. Simultaneous recordings will be made from each of the three auditory cortical areas while the marmoset vocally interacts with its peers in an unconstrained manner. This will permit an assessment of inter-areal synchrony, its temporal dynamics, and stimulus conditions under which it is expressed. A multichannel wireless system will be built to enable the process of recording and analyzing the activity of distributed groups of neurons in unrestrained animals. This will provide a powerful tool that will be used to trace neural pathways that process species-specific vocalizations. This will allow data to be recorded as animals naturally interact with each other, which is not possible with restrained animals. An additional benefit of the system is that is will provide a method of studying higher cortical areas where the optimal stimuli are not known a priori.