Visual and Auditory Processing Streams in the Cerebral Cortex

长期以来，视觉一直是健康和疾病的模型系统，用于分析感知和认知 大脑皮层水平的系统。近年来，在一个 理解涉及听觉认知的高级皮层区域。然而，关于听觉的知识 处理流仍然远远落后于视觉。我们建议使用单单元和多单元电- 生理学来研究非人类中沿上级颞回（STG）和沟（STS）的皮质区域沿着 灵长类动物，恒河猴，其皮质组织与人类相似。我们的分析是基于 假设至少有两个专门的处理流存在于视觉和听觉 系统，用于识别对象的前腹流，以及用于识别对象的后背流。 空间分析。因此，我们预测，前上级颞区（AST）吻侧和外侧的主要 听觉皮层（A1）对听觉对象的选择性增强，与空间位置无关（特异性 A1尾侧的后上级颞区（PST）对位置的选择性增强 在空间中，无论听觉对象类型如何（具体目标2）。我们将专注于物种的加工- 并将测试上级颞叶皮层（ST）的神经元是否可以形成 音高和呼叫者身份的不变性。在第三个特定目标中，我们将使用解剖示踪剂，注射到 生理特征区域，以揭示从听觉到AST和PST的输入连接， 视觉和多感官区域。我们的研究，使用经过行为任务训练的警觉猴子， 理解感知和认知的统一原则。他们将 进一步了解中风或阿尔茨海默病导致的人类认知缺陷， 视觉和听觉失认症以及空间定向丧失。这些研究也与疾病有关 例如诵读困难症和自闭症，包括阅读理解方面问题或一个人的阅读能力， 社会交流听觉处理缺陷是两者的共同症状， 听觉皮层交流的神经机制是找到治疗方法的主要先决条件。最后， 了解颞叶皮层及其与额叶皮层的大量联系将为我们提供重要的线索， 更高的精神障碍，如精神分裂症，这往往是幻听的特点。

Vision has long served as a model system in health and disease for the analysis of perceptual and cognitive systems at the level of the cerebral cortex. Great progress has also been made in recent years regarding an understanding of higher cortical areas involved in auditory cognition. However, knowledge about auditory processing streams still lags far behind that in vision. We propose to use single- and multi-unit electro- physiology to study cortical areas along the superior temporal gyrus (STG) and sulcus (STS) in a nonhuman primate, the rhesus macaque, whose cortical organization is similar to that of humans. Our analysis is based on the hypothesis that at least two specialized processing streams exist both in the visual and auditory system, an antero-ventral stream for the identification of objects, and a postero-dorsal stream for the analysis of space. Thus we predict that anterior superior temporal areas (AST) rostral and lateral to primary auditory cortex (A1) show enhanced selectivity for auditory objects regardless of spatial location (Specific Aim 1), whereas posterior superior temporal areas (PST) caudal to A1 show enhanced selectivity for location in space regardless of auditory object type (Specific Aim 2). We will focus on the processing of species- specific communication calls and will test whether neurons in the superior temporal (ST) cortex can form invariances for pitch and caller identity. In a third Specific Aim, we will use anatomicaltracers, injected into physiologically characterized regions, to uncover the input connections to AST and PST from auditory, visual, and multisensory areas. Our studies, using alert monkeys trained in a behavioral task, will contribute to the understanding of unified principles of perception and cognition across sensory systems. They will further our understanding of deficits in human cognition from stroke or Alzheimer's disease, which result in visual and auditory agnosia as well as loss of spatial orientation. The studies are also relevant for disorders such as dyslexia and autism, which include problems in reading comprehension or a person's ability for social communication. Auditory processing deficits are a common symptom in both, and clarification of the neural mechanisms for auditory cortical communication is a major prerequisite for finding a cure. Finally, understanding temporal cortex with its massive connections to frontal cortex will yield important clues about higher mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, which are often characterized by auditory hallucinations.