Perception and recognition discriminated in the mouse auditory cortex by c-Fos labeling.
The functions of the fields of the mammalian auditory cortex in sound perception and recognition are unknown. We used Fos (a protein of the inducible immediate-early gene c-fos) as a cellular marker of activated brain areas to show in the mouse (Mus domesticus) that sound is processed differentially in auditory cortical fields according to its actual significance in a behavioral context. Recognition, compared with perception of exactly the same sound, produced significantly less but well focused Fos-positive cells in a primary auditory cortical field and significantly more labeling in higher auditory and association fields. Thus, recognition means a state of distinctive spatial distribution of activity in auditory cortical fields with a predominance of activation in higher-order fields.
Fichtel
I
I
Department of Neurobiology, University of Ulm, Germany.
Ehret
G
G
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism*; D014018:Tissue Distribution / Q000502:physiology
D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos