scholarly journals Harmonic template neurons in primate auditory cortex underlying complex sound processing

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (5) ◽  
pp. E840-E848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Feng ◽  
Xiaoqin Wang
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Common Marmoset ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Sound Processing ◽  
Harmonic Complex ◽  
Complex Sound ◽  
Complex Sounds ◽  
Animal Vocalizations ◽  
The Common ◽  
Hearing Range

Harmonicity is a fundamental element of music, speech, and animal vocalizations. How the auditory system extracts harmonic structures embedded in complex sounds and uses them to form a coherent unitary entity is not fully understood. Despite the prevalence of sounds rich in harmonic structures in our everyday hearing environment, it has remained largely unknown what neural mechanisms are used by the primate auditory cortex to extract these biologically important acoustic structures. In this study, we discovered a unique class of harmonic template neurons in the core region of auditory cortex of a highly vocal New World primate, the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), across the entire hearing frequency range. Marmosets have a rich vocal repertoire and a similar hearing range to that of humans. Responses of these neurons show nonlinear facilitation to harmonic complex sounds over inharmonic sounds, selectivity for particular harmonic structures beyond two-tone combinations, and sensitivity to harmonic number and spectral regularity. Our findings suggest that the harmonic template neurons in auditory cortex may play an important role in processing sounds with harmonic structures, such as animal vocalizations, human speech, and music.

Frequency representations and connections of the auditory cortex in the common marmoset ()

1988 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. S23
Author(s):  
Lindsay M. Aitkin ◽  
Motoi Kudo ◽  
Dexter R.F. Irvine
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Common Marmoset ◽  
The Common

Functional organization and hemispheric comparison of primary auditory cortex in the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus)

2005 ◽  
Vol 487 (4) ◽  
pp. 391-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bénédicte Philibert ◽  
Ralph E. Beitel ◽  
Srikantan S. Nagarajan ◽  
Ben H. Bonham ◽  
Christoph E. Schreiner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Primary Auditory Cortex ◽  
Common Marmoset ◽  
Callithrix Jacchus ◽  
The Common

Temporally precise population coding of dynamic sounds by auditory cortex

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua D Downer ◽  
James Bigelow ◽  
Melissa Runfeldt ◽  
Brian James Malone
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Frequency Tuning ◽  
Average Rate ◽  
Relative Effectiveness ◽  
Primary Auditory Cortex ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Population Coding ◽  
Complex Sounds ◽  
Animal Vocalizations

Fluctuations in the amplitude envelope of complex sounds provide critical cues for hearing, particularly for speech and animal vocalizations. Responses to amplitude modulation (AM) in the ascending auditory pathway have chiefly been described for single neurons. How neural populations might collectively encode and represent information about AM remains poorly characterized, even in primary auditory cortex (A1). We modeled population responses to AM based on data recorded from A1 neurons in awake squirrel monkeys and evaluated how accurately single trial responses to modulation frequencies from 4 to 512 Hz could be decoded as functions of population size, composition, and correlation structure. We found that a population-based decoding model that simulated convergent, equally weighted inputs was highly accurate and remarkably robust to the inclusion of neurons that were individually poor decoders. By contrast, average rate codes based on convergence performed poorly; effective decoding using average rates was only possible when the responses of individual neurons were segregated, as in classical population decoding models using labeled lines. The relative effectiveness of dynamic rate coding in auditory cortex was explained by shared modulation phase preferences among cortical neurons, despite heterogeneity in rate-based modulation frequency tuning. Our results indicate significant population-based synchrony in primary auditory cortex and suggest that robust population coding of the sound envelope information present in animal vocalizations and speech can be reliably achieved even with indiscriminate pooling of cortical responses. These findings highlight the importance of firing rate dynamics in population-based sensory coding.

Frequency representation in auditory cortex of the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus jacchus)

1986 ◽  
Vol 252 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay M. Aitkin ◽  
Michael M. Merzenich ◽  
Dexter R. F. Irvine ◽  
Janine C. Clarey ◽  
John E. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Common Marmoset ◽  
Callithrix Jacchus ◽  
Frequency Representation ◽  
The Common ◽  
Callithrix Jacchus Jacchus

scholarly journals Sound Frequency Representation in the Auditory Cortex of the Common Marmoset Visualized Using Optical Intrinsic Signal Imaging

eNeuro ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. ENEURO.0078-18.2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshiki Tani ◽  
Hiroshi Abe ◽  
Taku Hayami ◽  
Taku Banno ◽  
Naohisa Miyakawa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Common Marmoset ◽  
Sound Frequency ◽  
Intrinsic Signal ◽  
Optical Intrinsic Signal ◽  
Frequency Representation ◽  
The Common

Philosophy and stimulus design for neuroethology of complex-sound processing

1992 ◽  
Vol 336 (1278) ◽  
pp. 423-428 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Tuning Curve ◽  
Constant Frequency ◽  
Sound Processing ◽  
Complex Sound ◽  
Complex Sounds ◽  
As Species ◽  
Excitatory Responses ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Stimulus Design ◽  
Central Auditory Neurons

In research on the neural mechanisms for the processing of biologically important sounds such as species-specific sounds and sounds produced by prey and predators, it is necessary to study responses of central auditory neurons to biologically im portant sounds, information-bearing elements (IBES) in them, and tone bursts. The tone bursts or constant-frequency (CF) components can be an IBE in many species of animals. Information-bearing parameters characterizing these sounds must be systematically varied, and tuning of neurons to individual parameters must be studied. The measurement of a tuning curve must be performed not only for excitatory responses, but also for inhibitory and facilitative responses, if any. The selectivity of a neuron to a particular type of sound must be tested for whether it is level-tolerant. Responses to complex sounds can probably be explained on the basis of those to IBES and tone bursts, so that the use of the tone bursts, even though they are not IBES, is as essential as that of the biologically important sounds.

scholarly journals High-field Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Vocalization Processing in Marmosets

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Srivatsun Sadagopan ◽  
Nesibe Z Temiz ◽  
Henning U Voss
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
High Field ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Common Marmoset ◽  
Cortical Region ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Temporal Pole ◽  
Vocalization Type ◽  
The Common

Vocalizations are behaviorally critical sounds, and this behavioral importance is reflected in the ascending auditory system, where conspecific vocalizations are increasingly over-represented at higher processing stages. Recent evidence suggests that, in macaques, this increasing selectivity for vocalizations might culminate in a cortical region that is densely populated by vocalization-preferring neurons. Such a region might be a critical node in the representation of vocal communication sounds, underlying the recognition of vocalization type, caller and social context. These results raise the questions of whether cortical specializations for vocalization processing exist in other species, their cortical location, and their relationship to the auditory processing hierarchy. To explore cortical specializations for vocalizations in another species, we performed high-field fMRI of the auditory cortex of a vocal New World primate, the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus). Using a sparse imaging paradigm, we discovered a caudal-rostral gradient for the processing of conspecific vocalizations in marmoset auditory cortex, with regions of the anterior temporal lobe close to the temporal pole exhibiting the highest preference for vocalizations. These results demonstrate similar cortical specializations for vocalization processing in macaques and marmosets, suggesting that cortical specializations for vocal processing might have evolved before the lineages of these species diverged.

scholarly journals Complex pitch perception mechanisms are shared by humans and a New World monkey

2015 ◽  
Vol 113 (3) ◽  
pp. 781-786 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xindong Song ◽  
Michael S. Osmanski ◽  
Yueqi Guo ◽  
Xiaoqin Wang
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
New World ◽  
World Monkey ◽  
Common Marmoset ◽  
Pitch Perception ◽  
Frequency Resolution ◽  
Harmonic Complex ◽  
Complex Sounds ◽  
New World Monkey ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

The perception of the pitch of harmonic complex sounds is a crucial function of human audition, especially in music and speech processing. Whether the underlying mechanisms of pitch perception are unique to humans, however, is unknown. Based on estimates of frequency resolution at the level of the auditory periphery, psychoacoustic studies in humans have revealed several primary features of central pitch mechanisms. It has been shown that (i) pitch strength of a harmonic tone is dominated by resolved harmonics; (ii) pitch of resolved harmonics is sensitive to the quality of spectral harmonicity; and (iii) pitch of unresolved harmonics is sensitive to the salience of temporal envelope cues. Here we show, for a standard musical tuning fundamental frequency of 440 Hz, that the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), a New World monkey with a hearing range similar to that of humans, exhibits all of the primary features of central pitch mechanisms demonstrated in humans. Thus, marmosets and humans may share similar pitch perception mechanisms, suggesting that these mechanisms may have emerged early in primate evolution.

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