Auditory and Integrative Functions of the Prefrontal Cortex

描述（由申请人提供）：面部手势和声音信号的整合是沟通中必不可少的过程，涉及到许多大脑区域。大脑中有一个区域在处理面部和声音信息中起着至关重要的作用，这就是我们的语言处理区域——腹额叶。虽然以前的研究描述了额叶在工作记忆、决策和目标导向行为方面的作用，但很少有研究考察了灵长类动物前额叶皮层中听觉和整合过程的细胞基础。本实验的目的是了解腹侧前额叶皮层神经元如何处理和整合复杂的听觉和视觉信息，特别是与社交相关的面部和发声信息。我们之前的研究表明，在前额叶腹外侧皮层（VLPFC）中发现了对面孔、发声及其整合做出反应的单个神经元，该区域与人类额下回的语言区域相似。而发声反应神经元主要分布在VLPFC前部。这表明，部分VLPFC可能专门用于处理和整合社会刺激，如人类大脑中的面孔和声音，或语言和手势。我们将评估灵长类动物前额叶皮层在视听记忆任务中的神经元活动，这将确定：1)发声处理是一个多感觉过程；2)社会刺激与非社会刺激的多感觉加工与整合的影响因素；3)腹侧前额叶皮层在记忆面部发声刺激中是否必要？如果我们能够理解当面部动作与声音信息结合或增强时通常发生的神经过程，我们就可以开始理解当这个过程被破坏时发生的问题，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.