Behavioral Modulation of Cortical Responses During Complex Sound Perception

描述(申请人提供)：听觉神经科学中的一个基本问题是大脑皮层的神经活动如何产生知觉，以及大脑活动的变化如何与不同的行为状态相关。初级听觉皮质的活动已被证明受到心理物理任务的调节，但对神经活动和知觉之间的因果联系以及不同行为状态如何在单个神经元和群体水平上调节不同皮质区域--特别是非初级听觉区域--知之甚少。这项计划中的实验将使用多通道神经生理学技术和行为测试的强大组合来检查听觉皮质中的神经活动与绒猴个体神经元和群体水平上的感知之间的联系。具体目标1检查并比较两个听觉皮质区域之间神经反应的行为调节。具体目标2重点研究听皮层基音区神经反应与绒猴对含基音的谐和复音的知觉之间的关系。本文描述的实验结果将极大地有助于我们理解复杂声音的知觉组织及其在绒猴中的生理基础。这些实验还将有助于阐明不同水平的听觉皮质层级的功能组织。最后，由于人类和非人类灵长类之间的系统发育关系密切，这些结果将为更好地理解人类听觉皮质中复杂的声音处理提供更好的理解，包括语音感知。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A fundamental question in auditory neuroscience is how neural activity in the cerebral cortex gives rise to perception and how changes in brain activity relate to different behavioral states. Activity in primary auditory cortex has been shown to be modulated by engagement in a psychophysical task, but relatively little is known about the causal links between neural activity and perception and how different behavioral states modulate various cortical areas at both the single neuron and population level - especially for non-primary auditory areas. The experiments in this proposal will use a powerful combination of multi-channel neurophysiological techniques and behavioral testing to examine the links between neural activity in auditory cortex and perception at both the individual neuron and population levels in marmosets. Specific Aim 1 examines and compares behavioral modulation of neural responses between two auditory cortical areas. Specific Aim 2 focuses on the correlation between neural responses and marmoset's perception of pitch-bearing harmonic complex tones in the pitch region of auditory cortex. Results of the experiments described here will contribute greatly to our understanding of the perceptual organization of complex sounds and their physiological underpinnings in marmosets. These experiments will also help to elucidate the functional organization of different levels of the auditory cortical hierarchy. Finaly, because of the close phylogenetic relationship between human and nonhuman primates, these results will provide a better understanding of complex sound processing, including speech perception, in human auditory cortex.