title: A functional role for the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in non-spatial auditory cognition.
abstract: Spatial and non-spatial sensory information is hypothesized to be evaluated in parallel pathways. In this study, we tested the spatial and non-spatial sensitivity of auditory neurons in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vPFC), a cortical area in the non-spatial pathway. Activity was tested while non-human primates reported changes in an auditory stimulus' spatial or non-spatial features. We found that vPFC neurons were reliably modulated during a non-spatial auditory task but were not modulated during a spatial auditory task. The degree of modulation during the non-spatial task correlated positively with the monkeys' behavioral performance. These results are consistent with the hypotheses that the vPFC is part of a circuit involved in non-spatial auditory processing and that the vPFC plays a functional role in non-spatial auditory cognition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 3400 Spruce-5 Ravdin, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. ycohen@mail.med.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Y E
authors.initials: YE
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Russ
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Ackelson
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nitecki
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001306:Auditory Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004594:Electrophysiology; D006801:Humans; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014828:Vocalization, Animal / Q000502:physiology