Functional Organization of Non-Primary Auditory Cortex

功能专门化是大脑皮层的共同特征。在全球范围内，区域是专门执行特定的感觉或运动功能的。在人类、猴子和猫的外层视觉皮层中，已经确定了进一步专门用于空间、运动和模式处理的区域。在听觉皮层中，这种功能专门化或“劳动分工”的行为关联在很大程度上是未知的。我们的研究计划的长期目标是阐明猫听觉皮层内的行为“分工”，并确定不同的听觉场对声音介导行为的相对贡献。这些结果，当结合对潜在的神经元活动和大脑连接的调查，将提供证据，或反驳，层次或网络理论最好地解释听觉皮层的处理。

Functional specialization is a common characteristic of the cerebral cortex. Globally, regions are specialized to perform particular sensory or motor functions. Within extrastriate visual cortex of humans, monkeys and cats, areas have been identified that are further specialized for spatial, motion, and pattern processing. The behavioural correlate for such functional specializations, or a “division of labour”, within auditory cortex is largely unknown. The long-term goal of our research program is to elucidate the behavioral “division of labour” within cat auditory cortex and determine the relative contributions that the different auditory fields make to acoustically-mediated behaviors. These results, when combined with investigations of underlying neuronal activity and cerebral connections, will provide evidence for, or refute, which hierarchical or network theories best explain processing in auditory cortex. In the proposed study, we combine a battery of behavioural tests, electrophysiological recording, and reversible deactivation to dissect the functional plan of auditory cortex. This project will examine the 13 regions of acoustically-responsive cortex: the four tonotopic fields (AI, AAF, PAF & VPAF) and nine non-tonotopic areas (AII, FAES, dPE, iPE, vPE, DZ, VAF, IN, & T). In the proposed experiments we will emphasize pattern and temporal processing in auditory cortex. We hypothesize that the use of the proposed tasks and stimuli will reveal, both behaviorally and electrophysiologically, that areas along the dorso-ventral plane have increasing stimulus specificity similar to that of the ventral “what” processing stream in extrastriate visual cortex. Overall, we plan to produce the first compendium of the multiple, yet unique, combinations of neural contributions each region of auditory cortex makes to the processing of pattern and temporal stimuli. The results from these studies are essential for the development of functionally-based models of cerebral operations that will form the foundation of future knowledge of emergent and higher-order integrative processes.