Auditory Circuits for Interpreting Vocal Communication Signals

项目摘要/摘要 翻译交流中使用的发音，如人类语音、动物发音 人类必须执行一系列听觉任务：声音的检测和定位， 音高和音色的感知以及信息承载的分析和分类 解释通信呼叫所需的声音特征。听觉 神经学家已经获得了一个相对较好的模型，说明复杂声音是如何表现出来的 在初级听觉皮质，主要是根据它们的频谱-时间特征。我们也 知道更高水平的听觉和相关皮质区域的网络参与 处理人类的语音和动物的交流呼叫。然而，神经回路 以及发生在初级听觉皮质之间的相应的非线性转换 根据意义对交流声音进行分类的区域和皮质区域 仍然不为人知。我们正在开发鸟类模型系统来弥合这一差距。鸣禽 在不同的行为环境中使用大量的交流声音。 通过结合行为和神经生理学实验，我们将调查呼叫是如何 分类为呼叫类型(语义)。我们还将研究神经表示法 学习与不同发音器(声音)相对应的类别。使用最先进的 计算方法，我们将破译非线性处理步骤的顺序 既发生在单个神经元水平上，也发生在执行这些声音的神经元整体水平上- 转换为意义的转换。我们的研究将阐明体内不同回路的作用 用于处理语义和语音的听觉皮质。这方面的知识对于 了解某些精神障碍患者的听觉处理功能障碍如何影响言语 认知能力，以及其他认知技能。我们的工作也可能对 开发用于听觉神经假体或助听器的新信号处理方法。

Project Summary/Abstract To interpret the vocalizations used in communication, such as human speech, animals and humans must perform a range of auditory tasks: the detection and localization of sounds, the perception of pitch and timbre, and the parsing and categorization of the information bearing sound features that is required for the interpretation of communication calls. Auditory neuroscientists have obtained a relatively good model of how complex sounds are represented in the primary auditory cortex primarily in terms of their spectro-temporal features. We also know that a network of higher-level auditory and associative cortical areas is involved in processing speech in humans and communication calls in animals. However, the neural circuits and the corresponding non-linear transformations that occur between primary auditory cortical areas and cortical regions that categorize communication sounds in terms of their meaning remains unknown. We are developing the avian model system to bridge this gap. Songbirds have a large repertoire of communication sounds that are used in distinct behavioral contexts. By combining behavioral and neurophysiological experiments, we will investigate how calls are categorized into call-types (semantics). We will also investigate the neural representation for learned categories that correspond to different vocalizers (voice). Using state-of-the-art computational approaches, we will decipher the sequence of non-linear processing steps occurring both at the level of single neurons and neuronal ensembles that perform these sound- to-meaning transformations. Our studies will elucidate the roles of different circuits within auditory cortex for processing semantics and voice. This knowledge will be essential to understand how dysfunctional auditory processing in certain mental disorders affects speech recognition and consequently other cognitive skills. Our work could also be instrumental in the development of novel signal processing methods for auditory neural prosthetics or hearing aids.