title: Requirement of the auditory association cortex for discrimination of vowel-like sounds in rats.
abstract: We investigated the roles of the auditory cortex in discrimination learning of vowel-like sounds consisting of multiple formants. Rats were trained to discriminate between synthetic sounds with four formants. Bilateral electrolytic lesions including the primary auditory cortex and the dorsal auditory association cortex impaired multiformant discrimination, whereas they did not significantly affect discrimination between sounds with a single formant or between pure tones. Local lesions restricted to the dorsal/rostral auditory association cortex were sufficient to attenuate multiformant discrimination learning, and lesions restricted to the primary auditory cortex had no significant effects. These findings indicate that the dorsal/rostral auditory association cortex but not the primary auditory cortex is required for discrimination learning of vowel-like sounds with multiple formants in rats.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurophysiology, Brain Research Institute, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kudoh
authors.forename: Yoko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakayama
authors.forename: Ryuichi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hishida
authors.forename: Katsuei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shibuki
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000293:injuries / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D004572:Electrolysis / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D011930:Reaction Time; D013016:Sound; D013997:Time Factors