Auditory and Integrative Functions of the Prefrontal Cortex

描述(申请人提供)：面部手势和声音信号的整合是交流中必不可少的过程，涉及大脑多个区域。大脑的一个区域已经被证明在处理脸部和声音信息方面起着至关重要的作用，那就是我们的语言处理区域所在的前额叶腹侧。虽然以前的研究已经描述了额叶在工作记忆、决策和与视觉信息有关的目标导向行为中的作用，但很少有人研究灵长类前额叶听觉和整合过程的细胞基础。这项实验的目的是了解腹侧前额叶皮质神经元如何处理和整合复杂的听觉和视觉信息，特别是与社会交流相关的面部和发声信息。我们以前已经发现，对面孔、发声和它们的整合做出反应的单个神经元位于腹侧前额叶皮质(VLPFC)，这是一个与人额下回中的语言区同源的区域。而发声反应神经元主要分布在VLPFC前部，对面孔也有反应。这表明，VLPFC的某些部分可能专门处理和整合社会刺激，如人脑中的面孔和发声，或语音和手势。我们将评估视听记忆任务中灵长类动物前额叶皮质的神经元活动，这将确定：1)发声处理是一个多感觉过程；2)什么因素参与了多感觉处理和社会与非社会刺激的整合；以及3)腹侧前额叶皮质在记忆面孔发声刺激中是否必要？如果我们能够理解面部手势与声音信息整合或被声音信息增强时通常发生的神经过程，我们可能会开始理解当这一过程被扰乱时发生的问题，就像语言障碍和自闭症谱系障碍一样。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The integration of facial gestures and vocal signals is an essential process in communication and involves many brain regions. One brain region that has been shown to play a crucial role in the processing of face and vocal information is the ventral frontal lobe, home to our language processing areas. While previous studies have described the role of the frontal lobes in working memory, decision-making, and goal-directed behavior with regard to visual information few have examined the cellular basis of auditory and integrative processes in the primate prefrontal cortex. The goal of the experiments in this proposal is to understand how neurons in the ventral prefrontal cortex process and integrate complex auditory and visual information, especially face and vocalization information that is relevant to social communication. We have previously shown that single neurons which respond to faces, to vocalizations, and to their integration are found in the ventral lateral prefrontal cotex (VLPFC), a region homologous to language regions in human inferior frontal gyrus. However, vocalization responsive neurons, which also respond to faces, are mainly found in anterior VLPFC. This suggests that portions of VLPFC may be specialized to process and integrate social stimuli, such as faces and vocalizations, or speech and gestures in the human brain. We will assess neuronal activity in primate prefrontal cortex during audiovisual memory tasks which will determine: 1) Is vocalization processing a multisensory process; 2) What factors contribute to multisensory processing and integration of social versus non-social stimuli; and 3) Is the ventral prefrontal cortex necessary in remembering a face-vocalization stimulus? If we can understand the neural processes that normally occur when a facial gesture is integrated with, or enhanced by vocal information, we may begin to understand the problems that occur when this process is disrupted as it may be in language disorders and in autism spectrum disorders.