Processing of Communication Signals in Prefrontal Cortex

描述（由申请人提供）：该提案研究了腹外侧前额叶皮层（vPFC）在多模态通信信号处理中的作用。在许多情况下，听觉和视觉刺激提供了互补的信息，尤其是通信信号。恒河猴对发声和伴随它们的面部表情之间存在的相关性很敏感。理解多模态刺激的基本过程是将两种模态联合收割机组合成一个统一的表示。在目标#1中，我们测试了vPFC在处理多模态通信信号中的作用。我们假设vPFC神经元优先响应听觉和视觉刺激，传达补充信息。在目标#2中，我们测试了vPFC在多模态通信信号分类中的作用。恒河猴基于相对抽象的类别而不是原始的感知特征来区分某些类别的物种特异性发声，这种分类可以在vPFC神经元的放电率中看到。我们假设，vPFC神经元编码多模态刺激到类别的基础上，他们传达的信息，而不是他们的形态学特性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal examines the role of the ventrolateral prefontal cortex (vPFC) in the processing of multimodal communication signals. In many cases, auditory and visual stimuli provide complementary information, and this especially true of communication signals. Rhesus macaques are sensitive to the correlations that exist between the production of vocalizations and the facial expressions that accompany them. Fundamental to the process of understanding multimodal stimuli is to combine both modalities into a unified representation. In Aim #1, we test the role of the vPFC in processing multimodal communication signals. We hypothesize that vPFC neurons respond preferentially to auditory and visual stimuli that convey complementary information. In Aim #2, we test the role of the vPFC in the categorization of multimodal communication signals. Rhesus monkeys discriminate between certain classes of species specific vocalizations based on relatively abstract categories as opposed to raw perceptual features, and this categorization can be seen in the firing rates of vPFC neurons. We hypothesize that vPFC neurons code multimodal stimuli into categories that are based on the information they convey as opposed to their morphological properties.